


The Longest Night

by Rhain



Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, M/M, One Piece Universe, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-27
Updated: 2019-10-05
Packaged: 2020-10-29 07:16:51
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 26,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20792762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rhain/pseuds/Rhain
Summary: Timeline divergence set between Thriller Bark and Sabaody Archipelago.The Mugiwaras find themselves at a harvest celebration on an unusual island.  Their warm reception turns too good to be true when one of the crew gets left in the cold.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kumiko_sama_chan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kumiko_sama_chan/gifts).

> This story was originally written for December 21st in kumiko-sama-chan‘s Winter anthology project years ago. It was lost before being submitted due to me losing the computer it was written on, but I’ve always wanted to re-write it, bigger and better than it was before.

**The Longest Night – Chapter 1**

“Where did you go?” Sanji could see the words on the air more easily than he could hear them. The wind whistled past his ears making them burn, and deafening him to the sounds of anything else. He pressed his lips together in a tight line. If he couldn’t hear his voice outside his own head, it was doubtful anyone else could. 

It didn’t matter if that little shit could hear him; at this point, Sanji doubted the person he’d followed into the blizzard would answer.

The snow at his shins was wet but fluffy, the large flakes still falling fast and heavy all around him. Cold clusters caught in his eyelashes, causing him to blink sporadically every time he tried to focus on anything. It stung a little. It was annoying. And distracting.

The cook stopped walking and arched his back in a long shiver as a wet blob of snow plopped from his fringe to find its way down past the collar of his inadequate jacket and kelly-green dress shirt.

“Fuck,” he whispered and pulled a shaking hand from the black trouser pockets he’d shoved them into in a vain effort to keep them warm. He retrieved a bent cigarette from his inner breast pocket and lifted it with pale, shivering fingers to already-chapped lips. 

Mother fucker, he wished he could get it lit. He’d tried to, about an hour prior, but the winds were too strong to get the flame to catch. Intellectually, he knew it was a little foolish to go through the motions when there was no honest reward. Reason was a fickle thing, though. The thought of a warm, reassuring smoke tricked his nerves into relaxing just long enough for him to think.

When they arrived on the Autumn island that morning, everything was so warm. Especially warm for an island covered in trees with leaves of bright oranges and reds. Laughter and music were in the air, mixed with the delightful smells of the local cuisine. Something rich and thick. Spiced meats grilled over a hickory wood.

There was a festival going on—The Autumn’s Child Celebration—and a combination of local fishing vessels and pirate ships filled the harbour while their crews enjoyed the festivities. The docks were a mixture of commerce and celebration, with little to no signs of anyone clashing over opposing views on the legalities of piracy. Children were dressed in belled peacoats of silver and blue, while parents dressed in longer versions of the same except in reds and golds that mirrored the canopy of leaves. Some people were singing. Others were dancing. Everyone laughed. 

No one balked at all when their small crew decided to take shore leave among the rest. Instead, they were welcoming. It was nice. A break after the intense struggle they’d just had on Thriller Bark.

Even still, they weren’t stupid enough to accept the welcome without any suspicion. Not after Whiskey Peak.

Chopper insisted Zoro remain aboard the Sunny and continue to sleep. They all knew that suited the swordsman just fine, though he grumbled about it anyway before hunkering down against the mast and immediately starting to snore.

The doctor, of course, remained back as well. He seemed a little sad about missing the fun for his duty, but Sanji promised to bring him back something particularly sweet as a treat—as well as some more bandages and other medicinal supplies—and that brightened him up pretty quickly. 

Very little had made Chopper brighten since leaving Thriller Bark. He’d been hurt by the betrayal of a mentor, and was upset he couldn’t find a proper explanation for either Luffy or Zoro’s conditions. He saw it all as a failure of his medical skills and thought he was letting down his crew. 

Sanji felt guilty for not explaining to the reindeer what had happened, but it wasn’t his place. Secretly, he hoped Zoro would use this opportunity of being alone together to bolster the small doctor’s confidence.

Strange how things had changed. Before Thriller Bark, Sanji wouldn’t have thought Zoro had the empathy to notice Chopper’s mood, let alone the intelligence to work out the cause. But now? Now he didn’t know what to make of their algae covered monster.

Nami had given the rest of them basic rules on staying in pairs, and when to meet back at the ship. They had just 26 hours before the logpose would reset itself, so they needed to be back to the ship before lunch the following day, at the latest.

Luffy gave the appearance of understanding, which was a step beyond most of their normal docking situations. He happily took his ‘allowance’ in one hand, and Brook’s arm in the other before bounding out of sight. Brook sounded both scared and amused as he was dragged through town. 

At least it was apparent that their Captain intended to adhere to the ‘stay in pairs’ rule. Probably.

Usopp and Franky lingered in eyeline of the Sunny while wandering the eclectic shops near the docks. The store fronts seemed to showcase a wide range of gadgets, and the pair were already talking excitedly about how they could be incorporated into the Sunny’s defenses before they’d even hit the docks.

A lady on either side, Sanji had escorted their navigator and archaeologist along a cobblestone sidewalk that lead them towards the taller buildings at the far end of town. 

To the left the Cook had their stunning and dangerous Robin. As smart as she was beautiful in her dark colours and a fairly new brimmed hat. The archaeologist spoke briefly about how she suspected one of the larger buildings to be some sort of museum, or library, or bank, or other place where local people gathered to deal the currency of knowledge. 

To his right was the wisest woman he’d ever had the pleasure of knowing. If Robin were the deepest shades of the darkest waters, Nami was a hot spring at the centre of a summer island reflecting the sun’s rays right into his heart. She was always a sight, but seemed even more so in her simple and seemingly-locally-inspired gold and orange shirt.

They all headed in the direction of the buildings that Robin had pointed out making innocent conversation that Sanji was just thrilled to listen to more than participate in. He didn’t much care one way or the other what they did as long as he was allowed to accompany them. 

Robin was interested in the rich history and architecture of this new place. Nami was interested in the word rich. And Sanji was just interested in keeping them both company. 

It was a nice morning filled with laughter and kindness. 

He should have realised something was wrong.

But, that was hours ago. A lifetime ago. Before he’d stopped at a sidewalk food vendor to grab his promised sweets for Chopper. Before he’d turned around and discovered that he was alone on the street. Before he’d realised that he was without a single sign of his crew, or anyone local. Before he’d been stupid enough to follow that silly orange coat child into the woods. 

Before the sun had started going down.

Before the temperature dropped. 

Before it started snowing.

Before everything he knew and recognized was lost, awash in a sea of bitter white.

Sanji let out a shuddered breath and started walking again. “Where did you go?” he muttered in futile repetition.

To his muted surprise, a voice on the wind whispered back. “Over here,” they said.

The cook blinked and then shrugged before walking towards where his imagination told him he’d heard the voice coming from. It was as good a direction to head as any.


	2. Chapter 2

**The Longest Night – Chapter 2**

Nami was not entirely paying attention to the museum curator as the older man guided the ladies through the big halls of their museum. Instead, she was busy studying a brochure she’d been handed when they first entered. It had a list of all of the displays, some of which caught more of her attention than others.

“…Golden Glow, Child of Spring,” the old man was saying.

“Golden Glow?” Nami repeated with mild interest, eyes gleaming as the word ‘gold’ drew her back into the conversation.

Robin darted a knowing look at her, but Nami didn’t feel like it needed to be replied to. As she stopped to admire the statue the curator was referencing, she caught a little hint of a smile on their archaeologist’s lips. Robin continued along the line of sculptures. The older man had his attention split between the pair, but eventually decided on following the archaeologist. 

Nami didn’t take it personally; Robin’s company was probably more interesting to someone who spent their own life studying history as well. Besides, a curator distracted was the best sort of curator.

As Robin occupied the witness, Nami turned her attention back to the art.

“Lovely, isn’t she?” Another visitor smiled over at Nami causing the thief to give a slight start. 

She had a little round face, and her eyes disappeared into tiny half moons peering through thick glass lenses. Some part of Nami wondered if she could even see the sculpture she was standing next to, let alone Nami herself.

The statue—or rather, statues—were clearly carved independently of each other. 

The first was larger than the other, with strong arms wrapped around the thin waist of the second. It appeared that the artist had found a rather large block of jade and just cut the most attractive male form they could conceive. If strength came from stone, Nami believed she might just be staring at the source.

The second was—if Nami’s eyes weren’t playing tricks—entirely made of gold. A slender figure in layers of fabric that danced on an invisible breeze, hair inconceivably twisted and uncontrolled hid portions of her face that was turned up to an invisible sun. Only one foot was touching the floor, and there only just by the tips of her bare toes. The other leg was lifted and pulled back, captured impossibly by the artist in the middle of a gravity-defying, dance-like motion.

At first glance, the male figure—whose face was turned into the natural and rich golden curls—seemed to be holding her back from completely floating up off the cool pale stone of the museum’s floor. The longer she looked, however, the more the second figure seemed to be supportive and protective. Like he was basking in her the same way she was basking in the sun. 

It was quite possibly the most beautiful work of art she’d ever seen. And here it was, hidden away in some small, pirate friendly town that probably no one ever visited in the second quarter of the Grand Line.

She wondered if Luffy would help her liberate it and take it back to the ship.

A sudden hand on her shoulder encouraged a soft noise of surprise from Nami’s lips. Pale cheeks burning a little red over her spattering of freckles, Nami turned to find Robin standing behind her. She felt embarrassed, as though she’d been caught staring at something intimate and personal between two lovers.

At some point, it had gotten late. The woman who’d spoken to her was nowhere to be seen, nor was the man who had been guiding them on the tour. In fact, the large room with the wide variety of sculpture and other sorts of local art had gone from mostly empty to completely deserted, making the navigator wonder just how long she’d been staring at the intertwined figures.

“Has Cook-san not joined us yet?”

Such a simple question shouldn’t cause so much alarm to bubble in Nami’s chest. “He’s not with you?”

Robin didn’t reply specifically to Nami’s obvious question. Instead, she stated a short timeline of facts. “He stopped to select some deserts from a vendor on our way in. There wasn’t a line. It shouldn’t have taken very long.”

No, it shouldn’t have. Nami nodded in agreement, a frown starting to form. If Sanji was obtaining sweets, he should have been right in trying to pass them on to his favourite members of their crew. The fact that Nami hadn’t been interrupted while she daydreamed about the figures in the statue was… a little unusual. Almost suspicious.

“How long have we been in here?” Robin asked. Apparently, she’d lost track of time herself. That wasn’t very Robin like at all.

“I’m sure he’s fine.” The words hung in the air a moment, both women taking a beat to decide if they believed them. 

Nami hadn’t seen what happened to Sanji’s leg during his fight with the Shichibukai, but twice since then she’d witnessed him falter after carelessly putting too much weight on his right side. “He was hardly even limping anymore.” A frown caught her lips to hear her own words. They sounded more reassuring in her head.

“I do hope he hasn’t been caught in a pirate trap set by some well-meaning people trying to protect their town.” That concept must have seemed far a little too real to their morbid friend because she hastily added, “Or thrown into a bottomless pit as a sacrifice to some local deities.”

Robin’s words hung on the air just as Nami’s had a moment earlier. Neither spoke, both apparently imagining the various fates their cook might have found himself succumbing to thanks to his incomprehensible moral code. 

“The people who work here probably want to close so they can go and enjoy the festivities,” Robin provided, and Nami nodded. She agreed with the unspoken suggestion that they go look for Sanji, and they immediately moved with purpose towards the exit.

The vendor where they’d last seen Sanji headed for was a kind, older gentleman. He had a sweet, slender face, and lovely blue eyes. The pass he made at Robin was somehow lewd and charming all at once—not dissimilar to how Nami imagined Sanji’s secret inner thoughts might sound. Robin breezed past it like she’d been hearing comments like that her entire life, and showed the dirty old pervert a copy of Sanji’s wanted poster.

“Yeah. I saw a man with a curly eyebrow. Didn’t much look like the man on this poster… Ask me, the navy got the wrong image or the wrong name. Feller I met didn’t seem the sort to have such a bounty. Thoughtful, earnest type. Soft-spoken and polite. Not really,” he wiggled the fingers of one hand as though attempting to conjure the word. “Pirately.” 

It wasn’t a good word, or even a real word, but Nami caught his meaning. “So, then you saw Sanji-kun.”

“Yeah. Like I said, I saw ‘im. That is to say I met ‘im. A lot shorter than that guy on the poster. Wouldn’t’ve believed it. Not sure I believe it now. I could believe that Duval feller might do something as fiendish as be a pirate…Be a step up from a slaver, anyway. Or a step down? Whichever’s better.” 

He laughed then. Like they were sharing a joke, and like he was oblivious that he was the only one who found it funny. Honestly, Nami wasn’t sure what he was talking about. And his accent made her assume he was possibly a little… below the local average intelligence.

She glanced at Robin and saw an expression similar to how Nami imagined her own, but far more focused. The archaeologist went through a facial journey from confusion to consideration, back to confusion, and then finally to curiosity. 

How could any of this possibly make Robin curious? It just made Nami frustrated. She knew Robin couldn’t help it, though. Of _course_ the Straw Hat who always had her nose in a book would try to figure out what story this colourful local was trying to share. Nami didn’t fault her for it, but if Sanji was in some sort of danger, they simply didn’t have time for that. 

Robin’s body language shifted. She lowered her shoulder and adjusted her feet so that she was standing more comfortably. As though she intended to stand there talking longer than she’d originally intended. When she parted her lips to ask a question, Nami was certain she needed to intercede before they ended up back at this guy’s place for dinner and a stroll through the family album. “Can you help us find him?” Nami blurted, cutting Robin’s question off before it was even started.

Robin blinked and made a soft noise. Reluctant agreement with Nami’s chosen course of action. They needed this guy to focus, not go off on a tangent.

The cotton candy vendor was guided into explaining that Sanji had lingered at the stall for considerably longer than most people tended to stay and chat. He and the old man had bonded briefly over stories of burns and failures they’d experienced the first couple of times they tried experimenting with melted sugar. They traded a few tips on different flavours. Sanji had been especially interested in the machine he’d used to spin the sugar into such a light fluff. 

“I told him the plans for the machine were fairly simple, and drew him up a sketch for how to get the energy consistent without overheating.” The old man laughed the sort of laugh that closes your eyes into little quarter moon shapes and scratched the back of his balding head. 

“I don’t think I did a very good job of explaining, but he certain was polite about listening. Asked about the maths. Said he wasn’t an engineer like me, but had a coupla nakama that could probably figure it out. Then he asked for the biggest bag I had, filled with however much I could fit in. Just in case he couldn’t get it right himself.” He laughed again, seemingly at nothing. “Just in case.”

“Most people don’t want the blue stuff—say it tastes too different from the pink stuff—but I say you just don’t forget your first. And my first raspberry had every bit the rich sweetness as the stuff I’m still… Oh, I already sold it all to him.”

Wait, did he just accidentally fall into a sales pitch?

“So, you never talked about where he was going afterwards?”

“Sure we did. He said he was off to the art museum over there.” He pointed back in the direction the girls had come from.

Nami felt her eyebrow twitch. This guy was a dead end. All that, and he’d only told them what they already knew. Sanji stopped for cotton candy, and then went to meet up with them. “So, we try to re-trace his steps towards the museum? Maybe someone saw him inside?”

“You might-could do that,” the vendor added, seemingly just partly aware that they were all even still talking. “But maybe you don’t want to.”

“But you just said that’s where he went?” Robin questioned, somehow not sounding at all put out.

“Nope.” 

Robin and Nami stared at him for a moment before Nami realised he was waiting for them to ask him to elaborate. “What do you mean ‘Nope’?”

“Said that’s where he _said_ he was goin’. Sayin’s not doin.’ You might want ta know what he’s doin, but what he said ain’t what he did. Not to say he doesn’t do what he says. Maybe that was where he was goin’, but it isn’t where he went.”

There was that eyebrow twitch again. 

“If you would be so kind,” Robin said calmly. “Could you please provide us with any information you have as to where our friend is now?”

“Of course! You don’t have to be so formal about it.” He laughed a little again.

Sanji had, apparently, headed north after leaving the vendor. It was the right direction for the museum, but just before he was about to enter, he stopped in the street. He stood there maybe five minutes as though he heard or smelled something on the wind, and then finally turned down a side street without ever entering the building. 

Robin stopped to thank the old man, but Nami was already moving in the direction that had been pointed out. She didn’t want to get roped back into another weird tangent.

“I may officially hate this place.”

Robin didn’t say anything in response, but hum a quiet, amused laugh through closed lips.

“Don’t you start,” Nami grumbled, causing Robin to laugh in earnest.

The laughter stopped when Nami found an overtly large bag of blue cotton candy abandoned on the ground. It’d been ripped open and looked like some of the local pests might have gotten into it. Most of what was left inside was melted as though it’d been exposed to some moisture. Which was weird since it’d been dry since they arrived and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky.

A cold chill ran down her spine as though she was feeling the first touch of winter after a prolonged Fall. The navigator felt all concept of ‘relaxing shore leave’ vanish from her completely. Suddenly she was tense, and worried, and honestly a little pissed off that the one boy they could usually rely on to stick to a plan had gone and wandered off on his own. There was no way to tell where he was without more of a trail.

“Perhaps he’s returned to the ship,” Robin eventually supplied.

“Mm,” Nami agreed. Though something in the pit of her stomach wasn’t so sure.


	3. Chapter 3

**The Longest Night – Chapter 3**

“He’s not here,” Nami said as she ran out of the galley and back onto the main deck. Her breasts bounced twice before settling back into place under her sunshine shirt. It made Chopper remember how Docterine’s back would ache on occasion, despite the work the slender woman did to strengthen her tiny core. Nami had a similar shape, and would probably end up with similar issues later in life. He made a mental note to ask their navigator if she needed any tips on how to manage the presumptive back pain she must have felt.

Robin’s face was covered by the brim of a hat she’d picked up just before leaving Water 7. She was deep in concentration, but when she lifted her head again and brought her arms down, she nodded a confirmation. Her eyes had that piercing quality to them, hinting that something serious was afoot. Large pupils circled in a sliver of blue as she sought any sign of…

“Who’s not here?” Zoro asked with tightly concealed emotion in his tone. Curious, and interested more than worried.

Chopper’s little blue nose twitched as he tasted the air with it. There was a lingering flavour of cigarette smoke and cooked meat that hung around the girls, but it wasn’t recent. He inhaled deeper and confirmed to himself that Sanji wasn’t with them for at least a few hours. It seemed logical that their cook was missing in that case. “Where did you last see him?”

“Just in town. I… A few hours ago.” Nami seemed a little ashamed at having lost him, but that shame dissolved fast in a sea of anger. “He wandered off on his own after I told everyone specifically not to do that. Luffy, I’d understand, but… That idiot.” 

That was apparently all she was going to say on the matter, so Chopper turned his attention to Robin. By this point, even Zoro was standing up and sliding his arms into some peppermint shirt that he let hang loose over his bandages. Chopper watched his movements for any sign of distress but was satisfied that the swordsman wasn’t going to hurt himself performing the simple task of sliding into a shirt.

“We interrogated a witness who spotted Cook-san headed to join Navigator-san and I, but he stopped short of his destination and vanished without a trail.”

Zoro frowned, but said nothing to either make a dig at Sanji or express concern. Perhaps the situation was already too tense for either. 

“If you take me back to the place he went missing, I might be able to track him by his scent.” It was so weird how humans couldn’t find each other by scent.

“Like how you found the girls by following Nami’s perfume in Alabasta? Does he smell strong enough for that?”

“Of course.” Well, normally. That wasn’t necessarily true this time. Sanji was usually one of the easiest of them to pick out in a crowd, thanks to the amount of time he spent with food combined with the cloying odor of tobacco. Fire, spice, cigarettes, and meat. But with all the festivities going on, it was possible Sanji would be lost in the crowd. “Probably. But I don’t really want to leave Zoro all alone here…”

“Ehh?!?” Zoro protested.

“Probably’s better than no chance at all, which is what we had before,” Nami said with crossed arms and a shrug. She lifted one finger to her chin in thought before deciding on a course of action. “Robin, you take Chopper and Zoro back to the museum. I’ll swing past the shops to pick up Usopp and Franky, and then we’ll loop around to the centre of town to find Luffy and Brook.”

Zoro looked like he was sulking, but Chopper couldn’t figure out why. “There’s a lot of treasure on the ship. Are you sure you want to leave it unprotected?”

To her credit, Nami only hesitated for a moment. “No, making sure the crew is all accounted for is more important. If anything happens to the treasure, we’ll hunt down the people who took it, and just take it back.”

Robin had stepped inside for a moment before reappearing in a thigh length jacket. There was another over her arm, which she handed to Nami before turning her attention to Zoro. “Keep in touch,” she instructed before handing him a small transponder snail. Franky had managed to acquire and repair two for them from the scrap on Thriller Bark. Their range wasn’t that great. “They should cover most of the island. If anyone gets lost.”

Zoro pursed his lips a little before turning his back. “She’s talking about you,” he informed Chopper. 

Chopper didn’t reply. He didn’t need to. They all knew it wasn’t true.

The swordsman was about to leave the ship when Chopper stopped him by reaching for his forearm from his lower position on the deck. “You should bring a coat. There’s a chill in the air. I don’t want you to catch something on top of trying to mend.” 

Zoro stopped short, shoulders tightened in some unnamed emotion. He dropped them again before casually putting a hand out to the little doctor. “Of course, why don’t you lend me yours,” he replied flatly.

Chopper had expected Zoro to argue or put up a fuss. When the swordsman instead agreed with his recommendation, the tiny deer was too surprised to really grasp what he’d said. “Oh, sorry. I…” Chopper trailed off, realizing that Zoro’d tricked him with that one. Again. “AhhZoro! Take your doctor seriously!!”

“I always take my doctor seriously. He’s very smart, and takes care of everyone on the crew.”

Chopper felt that warm tingle he got any time someone complimented him. Honestly, he never knew how to respond when someone complimented him. Especially if he felt the compliment was justified. It made all the bones in his body feel fluid, even though he—as a doctor—realized that was impossible.

Brook would have appreciated that thought. He made a note to share it with the skeleton later.

“ehhShutup, asshole! You can’t make me happy that easily!”

Zoro was about to laugh when a big fluffy coat was thrown into his face by an apparently inpatient set of disembodied hands. Instead, he grumbled softly about devil children all grown up, and shoved his arms violently into the sleeves. Chopper didn’t care if he was pleased as long as he was protected from getting a chill, so that suited him just fine.

As they walked back into town, Robin explained to the pair the historical and mythological significance of the festival. According to the archaeologist, 900 years prior, the island had been a summer island. The seasons ebbed and flowed with times of heavy rains, the planting seasons, plush growth, and finally, the harvest. 

Over time, these seasons grew hotter and hotter. Then one year, the season of growth carried on far longer than it should have. The sun refused to set, bathing their lands forever in its unending glow. Plants wilted. Wells dried out. The land became unable to sustain itself. 

The people of the island believed their home would have turned into a desert, if not for a clever alchemist and a devoted priest.

Not much is known about exactly what they did, but one day the trees sprouted new leaves in a variety of orange, gold, and red. The weather grew colder. The colours in the sky shifted between blues and pinks before fading into the horizon with the dying lights of day. The sky was pitch black after that. Some believed that the end had come. Others held onto hope that this was the start of something new. Something better.

It wasn’t long before the first dots of distant starlight began to appear in the sky. One at a time. Then two. Then by the dozen, and hundred. Eventually, an entire stream of stars filled the night sky. It was stunning. It was written that that one single night lasted longer than any had before. There were many paintings and pieces of art at the museum dedicated to just that one night.

By morning, it was still dark. Clouds had spread out in the wee hours, and all at once, snow began to fall, coating the land in a fresh, soft powder. That was the start of their very first winter, and it ushered in a long era of peace, cooperation, and most importantly, hydration.

That was all the lore the museum had written about that first night. Everything else was just artistic interpretation, and—according to Robin—not worth repeating until it could be verified.

What was more interesting to her was the stories of the winters that came later. Each time, they were unexpected, proceeded by just one day of autumn where all the leaves on all the trees turned to stunning shades of red, gold, and orange. 

Because they never knew when Winter was coming, the island adopted a habit of being constantly prepared. Food storage, firewood, warm clothing. Everything was ready to be put into place in an instant. Crops were planted in staggered intervals so that they could be harvested whenever necessary. When autumn did hit, there was nothing to do but celebrate the coming of a new winter.

Chopper really liked Robin’s story. He thought that Dr. Hiluluk would have been so happy to hear about these people who filled the sky with stars and fixed their island’s problems. And it certainly helped them pass the time as they headed to where the girls had lost Sanji. But now that they were there…

The little doctor eyed the empty bag that was sitting nearby. “Walk Point!” It had a distinctively sweet scent. And just beyond that… “Sanji was here…” It was actually really easy to tell, since—including Robin and Nami—there had only been three other people there since around that time. “He wasn’t alone.” 

Chopper took a moment to test the air again. The other person smelled like… dried leaves and crisp air. That was not going to be an easy scent to find. In fact, had they not been standing so close to Sanji in that abandoned backstreet with no other human scents to muddle things, he may not even have noticed the second person.

The reindeer’s ears perked back as Zoro noisily shifted his swords. “Do you smell anything that implies they fought? Blood, or gunpowder? Anything like that?”

The question made Chopper frown a bit. He did smell blood, but it could easily have been from an old wound. It was just a lingering iron on the air, but it was certainly Sanji’s. Chopper didn’t know anyone else whose blood smelled like that. Was Sanji hurt too? Was Chopper so distracted by the mystery of Luffy’s recovery and Zoro’s wounds that he’d neglected to notice --

“Chopper,” Zoro groaned in annoyance, interrupting his thought process.

“Ano… No, he just… Walked away with them. Or after them.” Chopper scrunched his nose. “It’s hard to tell.”

Zoro slid one hand into a pocket and rested the other against the hilts of a pair of swords. He shrugged once and then started walking. “Guess we’ll just have to follow him, then. What a pain that guy is.”

“Wait! Zoro!” Chopper called after him. “You’re going the wrong way.”

Chopper didn’t know why Robin laughed that gentle sound from between closed lips, or why Zoro seemed vaguely embarrassed.

“Lead the way then, Tony-kun.”

“Oh, uh, right.”


	4. Chapter 4

**The Longest Night – Chapter 4**

It was the contrast of orange against all the rest of that white. That was what saved him.

He could hear the voice clearly again, calling him deeper into the blinding, snow-bright darkness. Begging him for help with tears hanging off each word. Something not cowardly, but genuinely scared. Betrayed. Alone. Desperate.

He knocked into tree and boulder alike, lost and confused. The trees gripped at him with their ice-sharpened branches. They sliced at his throat and face, and tangled their claws in his hair. They tugged on his tie and made it hard to breathe. He had to abandon his jacket completely when something took hold and wouldn’t let go. 

Sanji could make out nothing in the storm. Not a shadow or light or break in the elements. Nothing except that splash of colour that he’d probably been following for hours without gaining any ground. The futility made him want to just fall to his knees and give up.

Seemingly in response to his most recent thought of doing just that, Sanji’s leg twitched. He faltered and fell to one knee and both hands. It hurt. More mentally than physically. It was hard to convince himself to get back up. But there was a reason he had to keep moving. If that kid could keep going, Sanji could too.

“Are you okay?”

The kid in the orange coat was suddenly right beside him, mitten-clad hands gripping at Sanji’s bicep. The cook couldn’t tell if the kid was trying to help him up or grab on for security, but either way, the poor tiny hands were trembling.

“Why are you out here in this storm?” Sanji instinctively reached out to grab the child by the arm. He was equal parts anger over the stupidity of their situation, and relief for having found this kid alive. Relief won out almost immediately and Sanji tugged the smaller frame to his own in a futile effort to warm them both. 

The child didn’t answer, but the cook wasn’t really expecting them to. Sanji clenched his eyes closed in frustration. He opened them, expecting to see nothing but a blistering white snow screen. To his pleasant surprise, however, he caught a glimpse of orange in the snow. Not a coat this time, but a light. A glow from—perhaps—a flame. It was dim and distant, but the orange glow against an ice coated cave door promised shelter from the wind, and that was the best news he could have hoped for.

Without explanation or request for permission, Sanji scooped up the small person nuzzled against his chest and started walking. “We’ll get inside, and everything will be okay,” Sanji murmured as he trudged. It wasn’t that far.

The child had gone still against his chest. Sleeping probably. Hopefully. He could find out when he got to the cave. It wasn’t that far. “It’s not that far,” he whispered. Everything would be okay.


	5. Chapter 5

**The Longest Night – Chapter 5**

Chopper stood in the middle of the path on all fours. His little blue nose twitched at the crisp air as he searched for any signs of their cook. He was convinced he was going the right way, but Robin had pointed out that the dried leaves on the ground weren’t at all disturbed by footsteps. Curly-cook was a light step, but not that light. Unless he hadn’t wanted to be followed?

Zoro turned his gaze to Robin. She had her back to the pair of them, arms crossed over her chest while she used her powers to search, and one shoulder a little tenser than the other. She was worried for the cook, sure, but she also seemed a bit annoyed with the doctor.

To hear their words, you wouldn’t even realize they were bickering. They were both so damn polite to each other. But they both just kept stating the same facts over and over again. Facts that both acknowledged were true, but that couldn’t actually both be true. Chopper knew Sanji had come through there, but there was no sign of him, so he couldn’t have. Unless he was a ghost. Or flying. Or being carried by a ghost. Or someone flying. 

The swordsman gazed up at the waning light. It would be night soon, and that would make their hunt all the more difficult. The scientists needed to make a decision about which way to go, or Zoro would just…

Zoro wouldn’t be able to explain it later. He’d just started walking again when they stopped to argue. He used his instincts and followed a trail that he didn’t even know he was on. Through the woods, across a field, and into thicker, more leaf-bare forest. 

The branches were annoying and gripped at his skin. Zoro put up with the irritation just long enough to realize there was some black fabric caught up in a tangle of wood not even 20 yards away. Wado was drawn before Zoro recognized he was reaching for her, and the branches that briefly delayed him were turned into so much kindling. 

“Cook!” There was a surprising amount of worry in his tone, and Zoro frowned at himself. It was just a jacket. Why get so worried over something like that?

Zoro had to fight with the branches of the tree to free Sanji’s jacket. It was like the trees themselves wanted to play with him, and when Zoro gave a final tug, they let go, sending him flying backwards onto his ass, and Sanji’’s jacket into a soggy heap on the ground. 

For a moment, Zoro thought he heard laughter in the air, but it was probably just the wind through the trees.

Just to be safe, though, he muttered, “If you’re hiding in a tree laughing at this, I’m going to cut you as soon as I find you, Curly Cook.”

The wind laughed harder in the branches of the trees. It flicked his earrings and made them tickle the side of his neck. Zoro shivered and pulled his own coat a little closer before turning on his heel and scooping up the cook’s lost jacket. 

Zoro walked another 20 paces, allowing the wind to push him away from the decidedly creepy trees. As a gentle flurry began to light on Zoro’s hair, it occurred to him that Sanji’s jacket was heavy with water. Cold water. Like it had been in a heavy storm. Upon closer inspection, Zoro found that the pockets still had about a handful each of almost melted snow. 

Odd, considering it had only just started snowing.

The dim sound of someone calling out drew Zoro’s attention from his investigation. He looked up to see that he was all alone in the twilight, and realized he was standing in snow that went up past his shins. 

Zoro whirled back to see if he could spot the others where he’d left them. They weren’t there and he didn’t recognize anything he saw. The ground around him was pristine, with no footprints to show how he’d gotten there. It was as though he’d been standing in place while the snow had fallen around him. But that would have taken hours, wouldn’t it? 

Zoro’s nostrils flared as he took a deep breath. He called out for Chopper or Robin, but when neither answered, he just shrugged and started walking. They’d catch up to him eventually. Especially now that he was leaving a trail for them in the snow.

No sooner had he had that thought when he ended up nearly tripping over a crossing trail in the snow. He would have sworn that wasn’t there seconds ago. Zoro lifted a hand to his eyes to shade them from the sudden snowstorm that came out of nowhere and tried to see where the trail might lead. It didn’t look like it was that far, honestly. Maybe an hour’s walk or so to the mouth of an ice cave. And if his eyes weren’t playing tricks on him, there was a light flickering off the walls. That was the goal, then. If nothing else, it was shelter.

What seemed like only minutes later, Zoro found himself at the opening to the cave. He blinked at the sudden frozen structure in front of him before turning back to look at where he’d come from. From what he could tell through the veil of snow, he hadn’t left any tracks in the snow. Then he thought twice. The tracks he’d been following were gone, too; it was probably just the fresh snow covering his trail.

For a moment, Zoro worried that Robin and Chopper wouldn’t be able to find the way now that the trail was gone, but he consoled himself with the reminder that Chopper was from a winter island, and Robin was incredibly resourceful. The two of them together should have no problems getting on the right path eventually.

Instead of worrying about the minutia of his situation, Zoro turned his attention to the larger details. Such as the massive carved ice door that stood slightly ajar in front of him. Through it, he could easily see the glow of a steady flame that seemed to light up the entire side of the cave, reflecting up to the top of the huge hill.

“Cook?” Zoro called into the opening. Only the sound of the wind answered back. Of course it wouldn’t be that easy.

Zoro considered the opening. It was about wide enough for the cook to squeeze through, but not much wider. He tried pushing and pulling the door, but it wouldn’t budge. “You better be in there,” Zoro muttered as he drew a sword. He silently promised all of his swords he would sharpen them properly for how he was about to mistreat them, before he carved a properly Zoro-sized hole in the thick ice.

Zoro didn’t know what he expected to see inside the cave. A single lit brazier at the entrance to a massive marble corridor with plush blue carpet, lined on both sides with intricate metal boxes was probably not the farthest thing from what he would have imagined, but it was still pretty unexpected.

The air inside was brisk, but not cold how it had been outside. Zoro made a soft appreciative noise and rubbed his arms before blowing warm breath into his hands.

With no where else to turn, Zoro began to make his way down the long hall, heedless of the snow he was tracking onto someone’s nice carpet. “Idiot Cook,” Zoro called out again, hoping for a simple answer. 

The answer he received was not simple. Nor was it verbal. One after the other, the metal boxes on the sides of the hall revealed themselves as lanterns. The light spread down to a certain point, and then turned a corner. Zoro shifted a hand back to rest on the hilts of his blades. “Cute trick.”

With no other leads, and nothing to really tell him he was making the wrong decision, Zoro shrugged one shoulder, and boldly began to follow their trail.


	6. Chapter 6

**The Longest Night – Chapter 6**

Robin frowned as Chopper tried once more to reach Zoro on their second transponder snail. She immediately pictured no less than three horrible ways Zoro could have been kept from answering, but she kept them to herself so as to not upset Chopper any more than he already was.

“What do we do?” Chopper’s eyes swam as he looked up at Robin for answers.

Robin considered briefly. At that point, there honestly wasn’t much of a reason to be concerned. Sanji wandered off to follow pretty girls or exotic foods all the time, but he always came back just fine. Zoro frequently got lost, but he always somehow ended up exactly where he needed to be. Honestly, the weirdest part about their situation was that they were looking for the pair at all. “Can you still track Cook-san?”

Chopper nodded, his little deer head bobbing up and down under his big pink hat.

“Then the plan hasn’t changed. We follow the trail until there’s no trail left to follow.”

Reluctantly, Chopper nodded again, and started walking. It wasn’t long before Chopper found Zoro’s scent—fresher, and walking the same path that Sanji had taken.

Robin looked at the ground and tried to see whatever trail had led Zoro to follow behind their cook. There was nothing out of sorts. Some gnarly hardwoods at the edge of the tree line were not the easiest to push past, but then there were just open fields of rolling hills. Long grass and wildflowers that looked like they were about at the end of their lifespan.

A family of white-tailed deer stopped to check out the pair of them. They clearly sniffed at the strange, blue-nosed reindeer before bounding back into the treeline.

“What’s that in the distance?”

Robin stopped watching the trail the deer had made in the long grass to look at what Chopper had seen. At the foot of a large mountain, there was a definitive light source. It was dim, but flickered high off the sides of the large stone walls. The effect was ghostly, even at such a distance.

Robin frowned as Chopper began towards the light. He still seemed to be following a scent, but if that was the case then why wasn’t there any bent grass trails like those the deer had left behind.

It was past twilight and getting into the actual hours of the night by the time the pair reached the light. The flame turned out to be coming from a large brazier at the opening. The walls of the opening were carved in some language that Robin didn’t fully recognize. Something about a harvest. The seasons. Darkness and light. She itched to pull out her books and try to translate.

It was strange. The temple was just like the one the curator had spoken to her about. But he’d spoken about legend and superstition. Warnings for locals not to go off with strangers, and to avoid the mountains.

Chopper walked past her, stopping next to the brazier. “Is this some sort of temple?” he wondered out loud. “Or an underground entrance to a castle?”

“It does seem that way,” she agreed noncommittaly. There was a long corridor with a plush red carpet. The walls were lined with intricately carved lanterns. Robin imagined it would be frustrating to keep lit with the wide-open doorway, but lit they were. “Someone must be here,” she commented, gesturing to the lights. “Or they’ve been here recently.”

Chopper nodded. “There were at least three people… Sanji and someone, and then Zoro more recently.” The little reindeer then popped into heavy point, and started miming some motions. “The other person is small… Like a child. I think… I think Sanji may have been carrying them.”

“Saaanji! Zoooro!” Chopper called out, not noticing her change in demeanor. His tiny voice echoed off the marble walls of the hall, but no answer came back.

The silence that followed was frustrating, but not unexpected. Chopper ran a thumb under his chin as he considered the situation. He appeared torn between wanting to rescue their friends, and being afraid of whatever might have ‘gotten’ them.

“We can head back and get the others if you prefer,” Robin suggested.

Chopper started, raising his shoulders up closer to his head. It would seem that she hit the nail on the head. “No. They could be hurt.”

Robin smiled down at him and nodded her agreement. “And you are the brave ship’s doctor.”

Chopper squeaked and popped back into Brain Point. “That’s right!” Puffing his chest out, Chopper began to stride into the doorway, arms swaying dramatically. “This way to rescue Zoro and Sanji.”

“Hm-hmp,” Robin laughed as she closed her eyes in appreciation. “After you, Doctor,” she added and began to follow her tiny crewmate.


	7. Chapter 7

**The Longest Night – Chapter 7**

It felt like a long walk until Zoro finally reached a room at the end of the maze of halls. It was round with large marble pillars creating a ring around the centre. There was enough space between the pillars and the walls to create a sort of artificial hall. The plush blue carpeting made a ring around the room, helping to define the hall like feel before parting to a huge marble slab in the centre. 

The ceiling above was domed, but open to the sky in the centre above the marble. Zoro was surprised to see that the storm he’d walked through had given way to clear sky. In the first dark of night, Zoro could see just a hint of what was probably going to turn into a dazzling display of stars.

Zoro stared at the sky as he walked. One hand laid on the hilts of his swords, the other trailing against the carved outer wall of the room. There were words carved there, just as there were words carved in the halls outside that room. Zoro had a mild curiosity for what they said, but it wasn’t any language he was familiar with.

“You’re here! I was beginning to think you weren’t going to make it in time,” an excited child’s voice called out from behind Zoro, startling him enough to turn and draw his sword.

Zoro blinked his surprise when the blade came centimetres from the face of a child of indiscernible age, and the child was excitedly unfazed. Instead, they reached out to grasp the fingers of Zoro’s free hand and gave him a tug.

“Common! He needs you.”

The little hairs on the back of Zoro’s neck raised as the child’s words sent shivers down his spine. He allowed himself to be pulled off the carpet and into the centre of the room. His ears popped a little as he passed the threshold, causing him to swallow to try to clear the sensation.

In the centre of the marble floor, maybe some twenty paces away, there was a raised, round pedestal, maybe four feet high. Stairs had been built out from the edge so that one could easily climb up to the top. In the centre of that, collapsed in a heap of soggy humanity was one wayward cook.

“Cooku!” Zoro ran forward, child forgotten, and sword returned to its scabbard. 

The centre of the room was noticeably warmer than the outside, and as Zoro made it to the top of the pedestal, he could see that it had a feint shimmery glow. “Oi, Cook,” he breathed gently as his hand went for the other’s throat to feel for a pulse.

Sanji’s skin was paler than normal, and like ice under Zoro’s fingers. But at the touch, he nuzzled in, instinctively seeking heat for comfort. Zoro considered scooping him up and running back out to find Chopper, but he didn’t know where the doctor was, and this weird stone the cook was laying on seemed warm enough.

His clothing, however, had to go. The cook was drenched to the skin, and all that wet cloth was not good. It was probably for the best that he was unconscious for this part; the protests of protecting his masculinity would have been obnoxious.

The child that Zoro had basically forgotten returned to his side, and quietly held up what looked like a pair of pajamas and a blanket.

“Why didn’t you try to help him yourself?” Zoro accused with narrowed eyes. 

The child didn’t respond, but just continued offering the dry clothes and blanket. Grumbling, Zoro snatched them away and began to redress the cook in the fine new clothes. 

They were very soft, Zoro mused. Softer than silk, but light and slinky. The pants came up about two inches shorter on the cook’s long legs than they should have, and the shirt sleeves had the same problem. The shirt was long, though, and would have hung down to the cook’s knees if he was standing.

Once he had him re-clothed and tucked under the blanket, Zoro removed his own coat and placed that over him, too. The kid was suddenly back beside him, offering him an outfit made of the same fabric, and a second blanket.

Zoro supposed that it wouldn’t hurt to change into something that comfortable. His own pants had gotten wet walking in the snow. With a shrug, Zoro accepted and began to change into the comfortable new clothes. “What is this place?”

The child cocked their head as though that were an unusual question. “It’s the temple,” they replied simply.

“Temple of what?”

“The seasons. Specifically, Winter in this part.”

Zoro supposed that seemed harmless enough. It could have been the temple of freezing pirates to death, or slow-baking cooks. Winter was benign.

Zoro looked down at the bundled cook as he slid into the pajama pants. “How long has he been unconscious?”

“Do you not have a temple where you’re from?” The child seemed innocently curious.

Zoro sat down next to Sanji and laid a hand on his forehead. It was probably the only part of him that was warm. “Not like this,” Zoro finally answered.

“How do you get your seasons, then?”

“What’s your name, kid?” Zoro felt okay ignoring their question since they’d ignored one of his. They seemed perplexed, though, so Zoro added, “What do people call you?”

“Autumn,” the child replied, suddenly appearing both beamingly happy and a little confused. Zoro didn’t know the source of either emotion. “What do people call you?”

“Marimo,” Sanji breathed.

Zoro turned his attention immediately to his crew-mate. His thumb continued to trace over Sanji’s forehead. “Cook,” he replied softly, and brushed an errant strand of hair back out of Sanji’s face. It was only when no one was paying attention and when one of them was hurt or sleepy that they shared that sort of intimacy.

A gentle smile grew on Sanji’s face. “I must really be lost if you’re the one that found me…”

“Guh!” Zoro straightened. “Asshole,” he muttered, stealing his hand back.

As Sanji laughed, Zoro turned to see if the child would answer some more questions, but when he looked, they were gone.

A breeze from the open ceiling above them sent a chill down Zoro’s back. “Che,” he huffed, and then nudged Sanji with his knee. “Slide over, idiot. You’re not the only one that’s cold.” Zoro had heard once that when someone was cold, the best way to warm them up was skin to skin contact, but he figured the combination of the warm surface beneath them and the light fabric of their new clothes would do the trick just fine without making it weird between them.

Sanji obliged by turning on his side, and Zoro slid in behind him. He tucked an arm around Sanji’s waist and pulled him in close so that they were basically spooning. For the briefest moment, Zoro thought the cook was going to protest, but as his back began to warm up immediately, Sanji apparently thought better of it. “You can argue with me later,” Zoro murmured and pulled him closer.

Sanji just sighed and leaned back. Zoro wasn’t sure, but the cook seemed almost… Content?


	8. Chapter 8

**The Longest Night – Chapter 8**

Brook couldn’t tell if Nami seemed more angry or worried as she explained the situation to the room. Just after she’d managed to find him and Luffy, she’d run into some museum curator that she and Robin had met earlier. The man had called out to her excitedly and then run up with what he imagined were family members for how similar they all looked.

He had told Nami how excited he had been to hear that her friend had been chosen as a sacrifice to Autumn’s Child. He then spoke about what an honour it was, and how her friend must have been such a good person to sacrifice himself to ‘End the Longest Night’.

He kept using that word: sacrifice.

Brook had to admit; it did seem in character for the ship’s cook to offer himself up to save people--in the limited knowledge that Brook had of the man.

Nami felt strongly different. She told the curator as much while clutching him by the front of his shirt. Sanji wouldn’t just go and blindly sacrifice himself, leaving the crew and his dreams behind.

Brook found her words ironic considering what he had seen Sanji try to do. But then, for some reason, Sanji and Zoro were keeping quiet about the whole event, so he couldn’t really blame Nami for not knowing.

Nami had pressed the poor, shaken man for more information. Which he gave willingly, but almost cryptically. Apparently, it’d been more than 50 years since the last ‘Burst of Winter’s Light’ and the information they had came from texts on some temple wall, so it was not really entirely reliable.

“He said Sanji’d be fine if he could last the night without dying,” Luffy interjected. He was sat at the head of the table in the mess where they’d gathered. “So, he’ll be fine.”

“He also said that it was really uncommon for someone to come back after being chosen by Autumn’s child, and that the chances went up dramatically if someone he loved was there with him.”

Usopp sucked in a breath. “And we all know who Sanji-kun loves most on the crew,” he said, eyeing Nami.

She nodded her agreement, and it seemed everyone was on the same page until Luffy said, “Zoro.”

“Ehhh…?” Usopp squealed.

“How do you figure?” asked Nami, quickly transitioning from a momentary outraged jealousy to intrigued curiosity.

“He makes Zoro’s favourite meal more than anyone else’s,” replied Luffy simply.

“He blushes when Zoro backhand compliments him,” added Brook.

“No one distracts him from the ladies faster than Zoro,” considered Franky. That was quite true. It took very little more than a grunt from Zoro to attract Sanji’s attention away from Nami or Robin.

“They’re always making excuses to touch each other…” Usopp added, his own words seeming to surprise himself.

“You too?” Nami asked, and Usopp bashfully shrugged. Nami didn’t seem convinced.

“Sanji-san offered his life in exchange for that warlord letting Zoro live.”

Suddenly all eyes were on Brook again making his mouth feel dry. He laughed nervously. He’d run his tongue across his lips to wet them if he had a tongue. Or lips for that matter! He laughed again, and then cleared his throat to speak more seriously.

“On Thriller Bark there was a moment in the fight where everyone was down except for the two of them. Without betraying too much of their confidence, Sanji-san offered his life in exchange for Zoro’s. Zoro didn’t allow for it to happen.”

“That’s so manly,” Franky said, his eyes beginning to swim with tears.

Brook smiled so fondly that his eyes became little moons. “It was very romantic,” he swooned.

“That doesn’t mean anything. He tried to sacrifice himself for me and Usopp on Enel’s ship. He loves all of us.”

This seemed to snap Luffy’s attention. He jumped up from his seat and said, “That settles it then. We all have to go to this temple place and bring him back.”

“It’s not that simple,” Nami frowned.

Luffy made an exasperated noise. “Why not?”

“Well, for one thing, no one knows where this temple is.”

“Did the curator give you any tips at all?” Usopp asked.

Nami began to shake her head but then paused. “He did say we had the best chance of ‘seeing the light’ in the place ‘where night lingered longest’ so that would probably be the west side of the island. But that could be anywhere to the west.” Nami pursed her lips and considered. It was a direction. And they’d gone looking for treasure with less information. 

“Nami?” Luffy asked softly.

“I guess we go west,” she replied.

Usopp and Franky suddenly seemed really excited. "Wait here," Franky said. "We've got just the thing."


	9. Chapter 9

**The Longest Night – Chapter 9**

It wasn’t a nap so much as it was a long rest with closed eyes. It wouldn’t have been the first time he’d slept on or under or beside the swordsman, but that was before Sanji had realized he would truly be heartbroken if Zoro weren’t around. Not just sad, but a little… Lost.

He wasn’t sure how long they’d been laying like that, but when he opened his eyes, he discovered what had to be a million stars in the sky above them. As he watched, flickering colours of green and blue began cutting an S into the sky, forming what looked like a shimmering cliff. The light cast down into the room, bathing them in a gentle, shimmering glow.

The sky was an ocean they were swimming in.

“Wow,” Sanji exhaled before whispering, “Zoro,” to gently wake him from where he was snoring.

At some point they’d shifted so that they were laying on their backs, Zoro’s arms outstretched, and Sanji’s head resting comfortably on Zoro’s bicep. Zoro opened his eyes, and his questioning response died on his lips. “Wow,” he whispered.

“Yeah,” Sanji replied.

They didn’t say anything after that. Nothing needed to be said. They were comfortable, dry, warm, and dazzled by the grandness of the world.

Sanji wiggled his toes, content that they had finally warmed up. The alter they were laying on was carved like a large chess board on the top, and was warm to the touch. When he had first arrived, it seemed weird to him that this was the warmest place he could find in the temple, despite the large open roof, and marble surface. But the kid had pulled him up the stairs to curl up on the warm surface, and genuinely that seemed like the best idea he’d ever heard.

That thought made him tense, and bolt upright. 

“What is it?” Zoro asked, suddenly alarmed and reaching for his swords.

“The kid. There was a kid. What happened to them?”

Zoro let out a breath and set his swords back beside him. “The kid is fine. Brought us some dry clothes and blankets.”

Sanji was relieved. He considered a moment, but then tucked back down on Zoro’s arm to watch the sky again. They laid like that for at least another hour before Zoro spoke.

“What did you mean?” he asked softly.

Sanji blinked. “Going to need more than that, moss brain.”

“Tch.” For a moment, Sanji thought that was going to be all he said on the matter, until he added, “On Thriller Bark. When you said you’re always prepared to sacrifice yourself for us.”

Sanji thought about how to respond. “Like you’re not?” he eventually snapped back. He knew he waited too long, though. He knew Zoro would know there was more, but hoped he wouldn’t press.

Zoro did worse than pressing. He stayed still, and quiet, and just looked at Sanji in the odd glow. Waiting and expectant. Sanji turned his head to look at him and then immediately wished he hadn’t. This sort of serious moment between he and Zoro gave him knots in his stomach and a tightness in his chest.

Sanji inhaled deep. He needed a smoke, he thought as he looked up at the sky, but didn’t go looking for his pack just yet. Eventually, he replied, “There are some rotten people out there. They think I’m dead. If they ever found out I was alive… I don’t know what they’d do. But I’m ready to make sure that no one on the crew suffers from my…” Not family. Never family again. Zeff was his family now. And the crew. Those people? They were just his… “Past.”

Zoro was quiet a long time before he opened his mouth to say something in response. That response died on his lips when they saw Chopper enter the room.

Sanji welcomed the sudden distraction. He pushed up to his bare feet on the warm marble. “Chopper! Oh-Robin-chwan!!” Sanji’s heart fluttered comfortably to see her stunning face.

Across the room, just entering from the same hall Sanji had come in from was their archaeologist and doctor. “Of _course_ you’d be the first to find me, Robin-chan!”

“Oioi,” Zoro protested.

“You probably just fell through the ceiling after getting lost,” Sanji snapped, probably a little too harshly.

“Tch,” Zoro replied, shoulders bunching up. Any intimacy from moments before floated away, just as the lights in the sky began to fade back to darkness and stars.

Sanji turned his attention back to Robin, but she and Chopper weren’t even looking at them. Instead, Chopper was searching the room in his deer form, smelling around for something, and Robin was busying herself investigating the carvings on the walls with a raised lantern. Oddly, the lantern didn’t cast light on anything but Robin herself and the book she was holding.

“R… Robin-chan?” 

“That’s weird,” Zoro agreed as he stepped up beside Sanji. 

They looked at each other, and then Sanji started walking forward. He made it down the short set of stairs, and about three feet on the floor before he smacked forehead first into an invisible barrier. “Ungnh,” he breathed, and then cringed, because he knew Zoro wouldn’t drop that.

Zoro, who was walking directly behind Sanji didn’t have a lot of room to talk, however, after he ran into Sanji who had stopped short in front of him. “Gunh,” he grunted.

Sanji was knocked into the invisible wall again. Annoyed, he shoved Zoro back off him. “Get back, idiot,” he hissed. He could hardly see Zoro in the now dim room, but could see enough to notice the other man wince. Quickly, Sanji remembered all of the blood that Zoro had been coated in after facing off against Kuma. He felt bad for shoving so hard.

Until Zoro shoved him back, knocking him into the barrier a third time. This time it was back first, and it aggravated the knife wound between his shoulder blades. “Asshole,” he hissed.

Zoro began feeling at the air over his shoulder. “It’s like there’s a wall here,” he commented.

Sanji shoved him away again—more gently this time—and hissed back, “No kidding.”

Robin was walking towards them, and for a minute it seemed like she could see them. But then she reached the lantern up and began looking in her book as though comparing the text to something. 

“I don’t think they can see us,” Sanji commented.

“No kidding,” Zoro mocked back.

“Ch,” Sanji replied, knowing that he’d deserved the tone in Zoro’s voice.

The pair then walked the full circle, feeling against the invisible wall to see if they could find an exit. They passed each other halfway and began searching the side the other had just investigated. It wasn’t that they didn’t trust the other to have searched thoroughly. Rather, they just needed to each see for themselves that there was no opening.

When they made it back to where Robin was, Sanji stepped back a few paces and sat down on the stairs. The moon was starting to crest over the edge of the ceiling. It hung low in the sky and bathed the room in a silver light, though none of that light touched Robin or Chopper.

Zoro pulled a pair of swords from the haramaki he’d put on over his new clothes. He began to size up the air, as though sizing up an opponent. Sanji leaned back on one elbow to watch this fool try to cut through something he couldn’t even see.

“Nigori,” Zoro hissed while swinging both swords parallel to each other. Briefly, Sanji wondered why so many of Zoro’s attacks were food-based puns. “Samon!”

Sanji hardly had time to wonder if Zoro even realized he was making puns before the sudden shock of being cut across the chest left him screaming out and thrashing back up the stairs and away from the pain.

He didn’t see it, but the attack must have reflected from the wall and caught him in the chest. That must have been what happened, Sanji reasoned as he rolled to his side and pressed his arms against this new injury.

Zoro was at his side in an instant, kneeling and saying something that Sanji’s ears couldn’t quite hear. He seemed distant. Everything seemed distant. It was just so… Surprising.

Zoro’s shirt was then just suddenly off, leaving just bandages covering the swordsman’s chest. As Zoro frantically attempted to pull Sanji’s arms back so he could press the balled-up fabric into Sanji’s cuts, Sanji was struck with the unavoidable desire to reach out and place his hand against one of the bandages on Zoro’s chest.

So he did.

The action did two things. First, it visibly stopped Zoro in his tracks, the other appearing like a deer in crosshairs as he went very still. Second, it caused a drip of blood to fall off his arm and onto the chessboard carving they were sitting on.

Both events were interesting to Sanji. The first caused his stomach to tighten in that weird way again, a reaction that Sanji still hadn’t quite figured out. The second genuinely frightened him.

The drop of blood immediately began to glow, spreading out along the carvings until the entire top of the pedestal was bathed in a silver light. Both men immediately bolted up to their feet in a vein effort to get back from the source of the glow. Zoro gripped Sanji’s wrist tightly, pulling him with him as he moved. 

Then the light shot upwards, engulfing the pair of them.

Sanji realized quickly that his original fear was unfounded. Immediately the glow began to warm him. He felt light and safe and… healthy. The dull ache of his knife wound was gone. His ankle where he had certainly fractured some bones felt better. Everywhere that had lingering aches from being smashed and cut and crushed was just suddenly good again. Strong again. 

“Wuh…?” That was when Sanji’s wrist began to feel warm in Zoro’s grip. Only then did he realize that there was a silver glow coming not just from the pedestal, but from Sanji himself. Zoro still looked concerned, but Sanji just placed his free hand back on Zoro’s chest. As they watched, the silver glow spread from Sanji’s hand, up his fingers and across Zoro’s chest.

They both stared, fascinated into silence as the glow went to work healing the swordsman in the same way it just had the cook. It spread all over his body until it vanished from the tips of his silly marimo hair.

They stood there like that for a long time afterwards, Sanji’s eyes fixed on Zoro’s face, and Zoro holding the gaze. The moon had made its way directly over them when Sanji realized he was hearing a distant sound of a transponder snail ringing.

Sanji swallowed. “You gonna get that?” he breathed.


	10. Chapter 10

**The Longest Night – Chapter 10**

Robin breathed a sigh of relief when Sanji and Zoro finally moved. It had been startling when the large pillar she was staring at suddenly fluctuated and shimmered into an image of the swordsman and cook holding each other on top of some sort of altar.

The pair were apparently oblivious to being watched, and Robin suddenly felt like she was intruding on a private moment. Not that she hadn’t eavesdropped on each of the men in the past—mostly when she first came aboard the ship and didn’t know any of them yet—but this seemed more personal than she had ever intended to overhear. That was odd, she thought, considering they were just standing close and looking at each other. 

“Sanji! Zoro!” Chopper exclaimed, bounding forward to greet the two. The image suddenly disappeared, and the marble wall replaced itself. Chopper stopped hard right before hitting the wall. “Zoro?” Leaning closer, he sniffed the air at the base of the pillar. 

“They can’t hear you,” a voice informed them.

Robin stood up straight, startled to have been taken by surprise. She thought she or Chopper would hear someone coming, but this child had snuck into the room without making a sound until they wanted their presence known.

“Hi,” Robin said. “What’s your name?” Trepidation filled her. This child had the presence of someone who was more than they appeared to be. As a devil child herself, Robin recognized that in others.

The child beamed proudly. “People call me Autumn. What do people call you?”

Autumn. It wasn’t a season or an abstract concept, but rather a person. But if this Autumn was a person, and they were written about in these old texts, how could they still be a child? A descendant, perhaps? “I’m called Robin,” Robin replied.

“That’s lovely.” The child beamed brightly. They clasped their hands together, and seemed just so pleased to be having a conversation.

“Autumn, did you bring our friends here?”

Autumn shrugged one shoulder. “I brought Cook to the place where morning sparks. Marimo came to find him because he heard his heart reaching out. What are you called?” they asked, turning their attention to Chopper.

“I’m Chopper,” he replied, looking from Robin to the child.

“Hello Chopper! You’re a very interesting reindeer.” Autumn smiled then, their round cheeks puffing up slightly causing their eyes to disappear behind long red lashes. 

“Autumn,” Robin said, drawing the child’s attention again. “Are our friends safe inside this pillar?”

“Oh, they aren’t inside that pillar,” Autumn replied. “That pillar is just a pillar.”

“But I smelled them come in here,” Chopper protested. He still seemed insulted to not be believed about that.

“Well, that’s because they did. Sort of. They came in through the Winter temple, which is like this temple only different.”

“That doesn’t explain why I can smell them.”

Autumn began walking around the pillar, dragging their fingers across the writing. “Oh, that’s because—just like the seasons—the Winter and Autumn temples can exist in the same place, but they only sometimes overlap. They came in through the Winter temple, and you came in through the Autumn temple. You can see through to each other, but only when the light shines bright on the other side.”

Autumn came all the way round and stopped by some writing. “See? It says that here. Winter’s light shines brightest in the place where they touch.”

Robin didn’t see the connection, but filed the information. Knowing what a passage on the pillar said should help her translate the rest of it. “How do we see them again?”

“That’s up to them.” Autumn began walking again. “Like I said, you can only see them when the light shines bright enough from their side.”

“Can’t we just knock this wall down?” Chopper wondered out loud, still not quite understanding how Sanji and Zoro could both be inside, and also be somewhere else.

“Oh, no, that would be a very bad idea. The pillar is linked to the seasons. Everything would come crashing down. Cook especially would be devastated, as he’s already linked to the other side.” The child looked up at Robin and made sure their very serious warning was understood. “Any damage the pillar takes leaves scars on him. On this side and the other side.”

“And what if they don’t want to be on the other side? What if they want to leave and come to the Autumn temple?”

“Marimo is free to step between seasons, but can’t so long as he refuses to leave alone. The other agreed to spend the night. So, for that night, Autumn and Winter will be in the same place. In the morning…” Autumn looked up at Robin’s face, shrugged, and said “We’ll see.” They kept walking. “Either Autumn will be here, or Winter will.”

“Are they in any danger?” Chopper asked.

Autumn stopped walking a moment. Considering. “That depends on them. And what you mean by danger. No matter what happens they won’t remain the same.” Autumn shrugged. “If change is danger, they are in impending danger.”

“Are they in mortal danger?” Robin clarified.

“That depends on them,” They repeated and started walking again. “And what choices they make. The sky is open, but the wind doesn’t reach the alter. If they don’t clear the air they’ve been given, they might not get any room to breathe.”

“Wait, are you saying they could run out of air?”

“That’s always a danger.”

Robin and Chopper both waited for the child to come back around. When they didn’t, the pair walked around the pillar until they met on the other side. 

There was a moment of quiet where Robin wondered if they’d met that child or if she and Chopper were both hallucinating the same fever dream. “Let’s try calling Zoro,” Robin finally said. The transponder was short range, but…

“If we’re in the same place, it should work,” Chopper realized, pulling out the tiny receiver.


	11. Chapter 11

**The Longest Night – Chapter 11**

Zoro lunged for the transponder snail. “Oi, Chopper. Robin,” he said immediately. “I found the cook, but we’re stuck.”

“We know. You’re inside what appears on our end to be a large marble pillar. What do you see on your end?”

Sanji was blathering on about Robin and if she missed him, and how lucky he was that she’d coming looking for him, so Zoro tuned him out. “Nothing. There’s an invisible wall between us. For a minute we could see the two of you, but that went away. Now the room is just empty and dark.”

“That makes sense. For a moment we could see the two of you as well. Did anything change for you when you could see us? Something to do with light?”

Zoro looked at Sanji. He’d just hurt the cook by trying to cut through the wall, but that didn’t seem like a good place to go just to get an image of their friends. “There was that pillar of light when I tried to cut through, but I can’t tell if it did any good. I could try again?”

“No!” Chopper and Robin both said at the same time. After a pause, Robin added, “Is Cook-san alright?”

“Robin is concerned for me!” Sanji continued blathering.

“Is he ever?” Zoro muttered.

“Autumn said we could see you because there was a light shining brightly on your side.”

“You met Autumn?” Sanji seemed particularly interested, pausing his rambling just for a moment.

“Yes,” Chopper said, “And we found out some troubling information. Apparently, the air in there with the two of you is not clear. You could suffocate if you stay there too long.”

Zoro looked at Sanji and thought about all the questions and concerns he had about the other man. The secrets. To say the air wasn’t clear between the two of them was a mild statement of fact. “So, how do we get out of here, then?”

“Have you considered clearing the air?” Even through the transponder, Zoro could tell Robin had one sharp eyebrow raised. She’d once asked Zoro why he looked at the cook when no one was watching him. He’d told her she was imagining things, but later realized she was right.

Why did he stare at the cook when no one was watching?

Was it just because of his suspicions? Or was it just that he simply liked the way the cook moved?

Was it both?

When neither of them replied, Robin went on, “Autumn mentioned that you, Zoro, would be able to leave, but only as long as he was willing to leave Sanji behind.”

“That’s stupid. I’ve been all the way around this prison and there isn’t a door.”

Sanji smirked, “You could run at the wall full tilt to see if one opens up. I’d even be willing to give you a little push off to get you started.”

Zoro winced and called Sanji a name. Sanji returned with some half-hearted insult about his hair. They traded back and forth a few times until finally Sanji reached out to take a swing at Zoro’s head. And just like that, they were fighting again.

“Sanji! Zoro! Stop fighting. You’ll open up all of your wounds!” Chopper both pleaded and commanded.

“It would be a shame if you both suffocated because you used up all of your clear air,” Robin added. “I wouldn’t recommend exercise of any sort at this point.”

Sanji and Zoro both stopped fighting at the same time. They were wrapped up in one another, legs tangled, Zoro’s fist in Sanji’s cut open shirt, the other hand holding the transponder carefully out to the side, and Sanji flat on his back with his hands holding up Zoro’s shoulders so that he didn’t get crushed.

Zoro had a distinct desire to either kiss the cook or knock him out—not for the first time, though it was the first time since Sanji had offered himself up as a sacrifice in Zoro’s place—but chose instead to roll off him. They both said “Sorry,” to Robin and then sat panting with their backs pressed together.

“What are we going to do?” Chopper asked, and they all considered.

“Chopper, I think it’s time you brought the rest of the crew here. In the meantime, I’ll go over these markings and see if I can make out a way to help you escape.”

“And what are we supposed to do?” Zoro wondered aloud.

“You could try waiting in silence. Barring that, there’s always the option of talking.” She said it with a tone that Zoro couldn’t place, and that was annoying. Sometimes Robin could be a know-it-all. Granted, that was because she frequently knew it all… But Zoro couldn’t think of a thing she might know to give her a _tone_.

“We’ll call you if we figure anything else out.”

“Mm,” Zoro replied and hung up with a light ‘Ka-cha’.

He leaned back and was surprised to find Sanji doing the same thing. They ended up sitting upright in the centre of the altar with their backs pressed together. It felt nice. Comfortable.


	12. Chapter 12

**The Longest Night – Chapter 12**

The Sniper Franky Rocket Go Sled was one of Franky and Usopp’s greatest creations. It looked like a rocket ship, was fueled by maple syrup, seated 9, and worked on both solid ground and snow. In a land where Winter was impending, and the temperature was dropping by the hour, it was the perfect mode of transportation.

Franky shifted gears as the sled plowed through brush and branches, effectively enlarging an existing game path in the woods. Beside him sat Luffy who had moved off the hood when they started hitting thicker resistance to their trip. He made a long ‘Wuuuuuugh!’ sound each time they hit a bump and got air, or crashed through a thicker line of trees.

Behind him, Usopp pleaded with him to slow down, while Nami used the sky to keep them headed in the vaguely right direction. Behind them, Brook was ‘Yohohoing’ like a person who was both terrified and amused.

A sudden beam of wispy light shot into the sky in the general direction they were heading, and Franky slammed on the breaks. They screeched to a stop, digging deep trenches under the wheels of the sled. All at once, everyone went quiet and turned to face the direction of the beam.

Franky lifted his sunglasses and stared for a moment. The silver beam cast light out all around it, washing the forest with a glow that seemed supernatural. A nearby deer turned its head towards the source of the light as well, its ear flickering in their direction before it bounded off to the shadows.

“Head towards that?” he asked.

“Head towards that,” Nami agreed. She sat back in her seat and folded a sky chart she was using.

“Mnnh,” Luffy agreed.

“Heading towards that!” Franky announced before flipping his glasses down again.

“Do we have to?” Usopp complained, though everyone could tell it was only a token complaint.

Brook laughed and then screamed a little as the sled started moving again.

Some hours later, while they were sailing easily through a field, Luffy started waving excitedly at something. At first, Franky thought it was just another deer, but then he noticed the pink hat. “Ohh! Chopper!” he called out as he brought the sled to a careful stop beside the little reindeer.

“Luffy! Everyone!” Chopper seemed very excited to see them all. “I was coming to get you! We found Zoro and Sanji.” Chopper turned into the cute little doctor form Franky was ultimately more familiar with, and hopped up to sit in the seat Luffy had vacated.

His little eyes looked like little stars of delight. “Franky, Usopp, did you build this?!? It’s so cool!”

Franky was about to go into a story about how they found the parts, and the various features and details, but Nami cut him off. 

“Wait. Sanji _and _Zoro… When did we lose Zoro?” Nami asked, leaning forward on the seat to get better eye contact with the little doctor.

Chopper just shrugged as if to say, ‘It’s Zoro, what do you expect?’

Franky and Luffy laughed as Nami huffed and plopped back in her seat. "This crew is exhausting." She sighed and slouched before gathering her wits. “You found them though. They’re both okay?”

“Yes. But they’re sort of trapped inside a temple until morning,” Chopper confirmed with a frown in his tone. 

“That doesn’t sound so bad… What happens in the morning?” Franky looked down at Chopper as he put the vehicle into drive again.

“From what we found out, either they’ll be fine, or they will suffocate.”

“Ehhh?” Franky, Nami, Usopp, and Brook all said at once.

“How do we get them out?” Nami asked.

Chopper folded his arms and shook his head. “Robin is working on it.”

“They’ll be fine,” Luffy declared. He crossed his legs up under him. “Zoro is there, and the rest of us will get there soon.”

Franky looked at Luffy’s back. Luffy had a confident gait. There wasn’t a doubt in that guy’s mind that his crew would be fine because they were looking out for each other. A huge grin flashed on split Franky's face. “Suuuperrr!” he declared and floored the accelerator.


	13. Chapter 13

**The Longest Night – Chapter 13**

Bored. Sanji wiggled his toes until they cracked, then leaned his head back against Zoro’s shoulder and sighed. He was so used to having something to do—something to cook or clean or smoke—that just sitting around and hoping to not suffocate was actually boring.

Zoro didn’t seem quite so put out. But then, the swordsman was frequently caught on deck doing literally nothing. This was the same idea, just a different backdrop.

“Quit fidgeting,” Zoro muttered, still not moving.

“How can you be so calm.”

Sanji felt one shoulder raise in a shrug. “Robin and the others will figure it out.”

It was so matter of fact that it actually reassured Sanji on some level. Not that he had any doubt that their beautiful Robin would come up with a solution, but it was nice to have that confidence backed up. Especially by someone like Zoro who wasn’t known for blindly trusting. 

Sanji sighed again. Trust and confidence weren’t the issue. Sanji was just genuinely bored.

Zoro finally shifted then. He moved around and put his head on Sanji’s thigh so that he was basically a pillow for the moss head. “Oi, oi,” Sanji protested, but there was no heat to it.

“Why cooking?” Zoro asked, looking up at Sanji.

“What?” Sanji asked with a small laugh. Where had that come from?

“If you’re going to keep shifting around and being annoying, you might as well tell me a story.” Reasonable. “So, why did you decide to become a cook? Why are you so passionate about it? Did you come from a poor family that didn’t have a lot of food or something?”

Sanji leaned back on both hands and raised the knee Zoro wasn’t leaning against. “No,” he said. “Nothing like that. I just… I liked the way food always made people happy. My mother cooked a lot before she got sick.” Sanji frowned then, just for a moment before forcing a smile. “And she liked it when I cooked for her.” He sighed contently at the memory of his mother.

“What was she like?” Zoro asked and closed his eyes. He went very still as he listened, as though he were willing himself to sleep.

“Amazing,” Sanji breathed in response. “Kind, and funny. The most caring person I’ve ever known. And more beautiful than you could imagine.” Sanji thought about how she always wore her hair parted to one side and ran his fingers through his own hair briefly. 

“Yeah?” Zoro almost sounded interested. “What does she do now?”

Sanji’s expression was a pleasant mask. “She died,” he replied past the lump in his throat.

“Yeah,” said Zoro. “My mom, too.”

“I’m sorry,” said Sanji, softly.

“Me too,” Zoro replied.

A dark silence hung over them then. Zoro eventually broke it by asking, “What about your father? What did he think of your cooking?”

“I don’t have a father,” Sanji replied shortly.

“That’s stupid. Everyone has a father.”

“Not me,” Sanji insisted. “I had my mother. Then I had the Baratie. And now I have Luffy, Nami-san, Robin-chan, and the rest of you idiots. That’s it.”

Zoro was quiet in response to Sanji’s tone. After a few long minutes he nudged Sanji’s thigh with the back of his head. “Oi, cook. Why do you do that?”

“Do what?” Sanji’s tone sounded sulky to his own ears, and he scrunched his nose at it.

“Put the women in the crew above everyone else.”

“Because they deserve it,” Sanji snapped back. But then he softened. “I don’t… I don’t have a lot of experience with women. I used… I used to have a sister, but after I met Zeff, everyone I knew was a man. And I just think… I think about my mother, and how if I were to fall in love with someone like her, I’d want to do everything. Give everything. Be everything… different than what her husband was.” Sanji shrugged very slowly. Uncomfortable, but not as uncomfortable as that topic usually made him feel.

He let one of his hands play in Zoro’s hair then. His short nails trailed along the swordsman’s scalp. Zoro sighed contently and nuzzled gently into the touch. 

“I just want to find love so that I know it really does exist in this world,” Sanji muttered, and let a thumb brush along Zoro’s forehead. Realizing how personal they were getting, he cleared his throat and made motions to get up.

Zoro’s hand was on his in an instant. “Don’t stop,” he said.

“Okay,” Sanji whispered back. They sat like that for another good 20 minutes before Sanji started getting bored again. “What about you?”

“Mmnh?” Zoro had been starting to doze off. 

“Why don’t you tell me about your folks?”

Zoro shrugged uncomfortably, and a crease appeared between his eyebrows. “Not a lot to tell. They were soldiers who fought an unwinnable war against an enemy with greater number, and ridiculous technology. But I thought we were talking about you, Cook…”

Sanji pursed his lips. “Why do you do that?”

“Do what?”

“Why do you call me ‘Cook’ all the time? I have a name.”

“Why do you call me ‘Marimo’ then? I have a name, too.”

“And I use it. But you never call me Sanji. Always ‘Cook’ or ‘Asshole’ or ‘You’ or whatever slur you can think of on the spot.”

Zoro pressed his lips together. Sanji had thought that it was just weird and tried to push it off as it being Zoro’s way at getting back at him for the dishes thing. But it had been so long. Had he just committed to the bit, and gotten himself in so deep that it was too late to start using Sanji’s name now? His expression seemed to say otherwise.

“Ch,” was all that Zoro would say for the longest time.

A darkness began to hang over them as the moon went behind some more clouds. It was hard when someone you cared about wouldn’t even say your name. Sometimes—not usually, just sometimes—it even hurt a little to hear him call someone else by name.

Sanji didn’t realize it, but he longed to hear Zoro call him by name, just once. “Whatever, asshole,” Sanji muttered. He pulled his hand back, but Zoro’s was on his again. His eyes were open and staring at him, cool and grey, as though they could see into Sanji’s heart.

Zoro adjusted his hold to Sanji’s wrist and sat up to face him without ever breaking eye contact. His thumb slid over Sanji’s pulse. “Coo-ku.” He said it slowly, broken into two syllables. “I was there to see the fight my parents died in.”

Sanji didn’t know why, but his pulse picked up. The only time he’d ever seen Zoro this serious with him, the swordsman nearly cut off his arm.

“There were other children there. Some of them were slaughtered. Others were… Doing the slaughtering.”

Sanji’s breath caught in his throat. 

“They had all different colours of hair. Three boys and a girl.”

Oh, God, no.

“Ichiji. Niji. Yonji. And a girl I didn’t catch the name of.”

Sanji felt his stomach drop.

“For years, I assumed she was the missing ‘San’ from the group. But she wasn’t, was she?”

Sanji felt a tear drop from one of his eyes. His family had slaughtered Zoro’s while Sanji himself had ran and hid and escaped. “Reiju,” he breathed. “Her name is Reiju,” he repeated.

Zoro just nodded. For a long time, he just nodded. Then he said, “You and she look quite a lot alike.”

Sanji nodded back, crestfallen and more than a little dumbstruck. People told him that when they were kids. His brothers teased him for being pretty like a girl. One of the many things they fought over. 

“Your mother must have been something to have a kid like you. Your father was a monster.”

Sanji’s breath caught in his throat. “I don’t have a father,” he insisted.

Suddenly, both of Zoro’s hands were on Sanji’s face, forcing them to lock eyes. “Cook,” he said, and waited until he had Sanji’s full attention. “I get it. But family isn’t just about blood. It’s about heart. You have a father, and his name is Zeff. And I bet your mother would have loved him.”

Sanji felt a smile behind ugly tears. “They would have fought like cats and dogs,” he said fondly.

“Yeah, but so do we.”

“We do,” Sanji agreed. He closed his eyes and leaned his forehead against Zoro’s, just existing in his space.

“Who else knows?” Sanji breathed eventually. 

“No one. No one needs to know, until…”

“Until they need to know,” Sanji agreed.

“But if push comes to shove, and they come for you...”

“I get it. I won’t put the crew in danger.”

“That wasn’t what I was going to say.” Zoro hooked one finger under Sanji’s chin and lifted his face up again. “If your past catches up to you, you should know that your family has your back. No matter what. So, no more talk of sacrifice.”

“Zoro…”

“Just say ‘Yes Zoro. Of course Zoro. You know best Zoro.’ And we can move on.” Zoro’s grin was shit eating.

“You’re such a bastard.”

“Close enough,” Zoro whispered. Then he leaned in so close that Sanji was sure he was going to kiss him. Just as fast as it happened, however, Zoro paused. Their lips were so close that Sanji could taste his bad breath. “Don’t look now, but I think we’re being watched.”

“What?” Sanji jumped back and turned to see a ghostly woman standing just at the bottom of the stairs to their weird prison. She was dressed all in blues and whites and had long flowing white hair over skin that was dark as the night sky.

“Wow,” Sanji breathed.

She smiled at them, and then faded from view.

“Do you think that she’s in the room with Robin?” Sanji was already moving to the spot she’d been and began pressing on the invisible wall again. As though it might suddenly move to let him out. He even tried to kick it a few times, but all he got was a sore foot.

“Idiot. You’re just wasting your breath. Our breath. Sit down and just shut up for a bit, would you?” 

With another sigh, Sanji plunked back down on one of the stairs.

Whatever was about to happen had passed.

“Bored,” Sanji said.

“Then get a hobby.”

“Is she gone?”

Whatever retort Sanji might have come back with died on his lips when Autumn poked their head around one of the pillars in the room. “Yeah, she’s gone…”

The little one scurried out from behind the pillar then. They’d gone from wearing the big belled coat to flowing orange hanfu, similar to the clothes the woman had worn. They ran easily through the barrier and up the stairs to throw their arms around Sanji’s waist and hide in his lap. “Scary,” they muttered, nuzzling against the soft fabric of his torn shirt.

Sanji blinked and put his hand on their head. “She didn’t seem very scary… Who was she?”

“Last year’s Winter,” the child grumbled. “She wants me to become this year’s Winter, but I don’t want to.”

Sanji slowly stroked their red hair. He didn’t know how to respond to that. Was he really trying to have a conversation with a physical manifestation of a season? “Why is that scary?”

Autumn leaned back and looked up at him, as though realizing he had no idea what was going on for the very first time.

“Every island has a season that protects it. But here, we have two—Winter and Summer. No one really knows why this island has two… Sometimes Winter and Summer don’t get along. They fight over who gets to go outside and who has to stay in the temple. But it’s even worse when they do get along,” they explained, “Because they never get to be in the same place at the same time. It’s sooo sad.”

“How do they fight if they’re never in the same place,” Zoro asked skeptically.

The child rolled their big eyes. “You don’t know anything. Through the light, _obviously._”

“Urk!” Zoro grunted while Sanji chuckled softly under his breath.

“I can understand that… If I could never be in the same place as Nami-san ever again, I don’t know how I’d go on.”

“Who is Namisan?” Autumn seemed startled.

Sanji was happy to explain. “She’s the most wonderful woman in the world. Beautiful, and smart, and brave…”

“Conniving, and manipulative, and greedy,” Zoro added.

Sanji narrowed his eyes at Zoro in a sort of threat, but there was no heat. He liked those traits of Nami’s, too.

“But I thought you liked boys,” Autumn exclaimed.

Sanji choked on his own tongue. “Wh—What?”

“You said woman, but I thought you liked men. Like him,” Autumn pointed at Zoro. 

Sanji was flummoxed. 

Zoro took up the slack. He walked over and sat down next to the pair. “Some people like women. And some like men. Some people like men and women. And to some people, gender just isn’t an issue.”

“Like for you?”

Zoro closed his eyes and with a sort of forced comfort, he shrugged one shoulder. “Like me,” he eventually confirmed.

Sanji stared at the swordsman. 

Zoro shrugged again, not entirely comfortable with the conversation or attention, but he kept going anyway. “I… Like people who are strong. And strong willed. I like… A challenge, I suppose.”

Sanji stared a moment longer, and then said, “Someone like Luffy?” He was seeing this whole other aspect of Zoro that he never considered before. It just didn’t occur to Sanji that Zoro would be into anyone, really.

Zoro scoffed. “I pity the person who falls in love with Luffy. That guy wouldn’t notice love if it was a bullet coming for his heart.”

“Well, he is a rubberman,” Sanji supplied.

Zoro laughed. “He is.”

Autumn looked between the pair and finally asked, “Is that a common thing? People not realizing they’re in love?”

“I guess so,” Sanji replied.

“So, you could be in the same room as the person you love, and still be ages apart? Just like Winter and Summer?”

Sanji nodded. “Easily.”

Autumn looked between them again, seemingly dumbfounded. “Oblivious,” they said.

Zoro looked at Sanji, and then back down at Autumn. “Yeah,” he confirmed.

“That seems so lonely.”

Zoro smiled and patted Autumn on the head. “It can be. But even with loved ones you lose, there’s still a piece of them that stays with you.”

Autumn watched Zoro a moment and then said. “You sound like you have some experience with that…” 

“I had a friend when I was about your age…” Zoro paused, and Sanji wondered if he was considering just how old Autumn might be. If he was, he passed it off and moved on, “We promised each other that one of us would be the greatest swordsman in the world.”

Sanji felt dread that this friend wasn’t in Zoro’s life anymore. “What happened?”

Zoro shrugged uncomfortably again and rested his hand on his white sword. “She died.”

Sanji’s eyes went wide. He went from worrying that this was another person in Zoro’s life that his family had taken from him, to wondering just how bad Zoro wanted to be the best. “Zoro, you didn’t--?!” It wasn’t that he thought Zoro would kill her on purpose, but the idea of an accidental sword death between two children obsessed with fighting? 

Zoro blinked. “What?!? No, asshole!” He shoved Sanji, then leaned back on his elbows. “She fell, and... She didn’t get a chance to die in combat.”

Sanji frowned but didn’t look at Zoro. “I didn’t know any of that,” he said softly after a few moments of silence.

Zoro nodded. “You and I don’t really talk much. It’s always just sort of been more physical between us.”

Sanji nodded, too. He wanted to say, ‘I’d like to change that,’ but the words died on his tongue.

Autumn stared up at him. “Oblivious,” they muttered and then pushed up to stand again. “You’ve given me a lot to think about. It seems like there’s no guarantees in love and loneliness. So, there’s no real point in being scared.” They smiled. “Thank you for that. I’ll leave you here to clear the air, and see you again in the morning.”

Without waiting for a response, Autumn bounded down the stairs and out through the barrier without any problems. Sanji jumped up to follow, but ran into the barrier again.

Zoro laughed. When Sanji turned to glare daggers at him, he laughed harder. Then he waved at the invisible wall with his hand. “Check it again. It might be down now.”

“Asshole.”

“Idiot.”


	14. Chapter 14

**The Longest Night – Chapter 14**

Robin shivered as a breeze passed over her shoulder. It was cold, and had that crisp scent of winter. It was getting close to morning, and the archaeologist assumed that cold air was making its way inside from the open entrance. She reached up and zipped her jacket up the rest of the way, then shifted her book and lantern with two of her other hands.

“That is remarkable,” a voice close by said.

Robin turned to see a stunning woman whose skin was as black as the night, and dotted with tiny sparkles that seemed like thousands of galaxies and stars. She had long silver hair that glowed like the light of a full moon, and eyelashes and brows to match. Her eyes looked like crystal at first, but then Robin noticed a little snowflake pattern and corrected her assumption to very clear ice.

“How do you do that?” The woman shifted her arms in a fluid motion, mirroring the ones Robin sometimes made, and frowned when nothing seemed to happen.

Robin stood there, dumbstruck by the hauntingly beautiful presence. She went on without seeming to notice. “Is this what they call a devil’s fruit ability?” She looked at Robin expectantly, but when no answer was received, she frowned. 

“Where are my manners? I’m Winter. And you are?”

Winter. Of course she was. Obviously. She certainly looked the part. When Winter reached out her hand to shake in greeting, Robin snapped out of her shock and replied, “Nico Robin.” She accepted Winter’s handshake. Her hand was as smooth as ice, and just as cold. Her grip hinted both a serene gentleness, and potential for great strength.

“It’s lovely to meet you, Robin-chan.” Winter nodded to the carvings on the walls. “I see you have been searching our history. Did you find what you were looking for?”

Robin blinked precisely twice, and then decided to stop wasting this opportunity with her initial childlike wonder. “I’m still a little unclear about the process of transitioning between two seasons. So, say, Autumn to Winter.”

Winter smiled. “Yes, it does come off as inconsistent if you’re not aware of the process.” Winter gestured for Robin to follow her. The pair walked down a hall off the main room and she began to explain.

“Seasonal changes such as these ones are uncommon among my people. Normally, Summer and I simply take turns with deciding who gets to be out. But every fifty years or so, we reach the end of our lifespans.

“When it is time for one Summer to perish, he uses the last of his strength and gives birth to a Child of Autumn. This child carries the memories of Summers past into the future. Autumn then assumes the role of Winter, taking all of the energy and all of the memories I possess as well.”

“That sounds like a tremendous responsibility for a child. Do they know what they’re going to face?”

“Yes. Rarely, Autumn is… Spooked by the concept of this mantle, and runs off before having a chance to be reborn to Winter.”

“And that’s what happened this year?”

Winter closed her eyes and inclined her head. “In years such as these, Winter will choose someone on the island to act as either a guiding light, a companion, or a replacement. Normally a resident who is willing and able… Though this time I did stretch the rules a little by choosing your friend.”

“Because he is not a resident, or because he isn’t willing?” Robin tipped her chin up a bit as she asked.

“He wouldn’t be here if he wasn’t willing,” Winter reassured. “I choose your friend because he has a kind soul who would be a good match regardless of the role he ends up playing. And because he has a strong heart, filled with love.”

Winter set both hands on Robin’s shoulders and looked her in the eyes. “Assuming everything goes as I believe it will, your friend should return to you. But that choice may ultimately be his. And if he doesn’t recognise the love he has here, I can’t say for sure what choice he will make.”

She leaned in close, and Robin shifted as the cold seeped into her. “When it was my turn to choose… I chose to stay. I did not realize the love I was leaving behind, and the decision was an easy one.”

Robin blinked. This woman had once been human? The thought of that was chilling. “I thought you said this scenario was rare?”

Winter smirked coldly. “Perhaps less rare than it used to be.” 

Winter blew against Robin’s face, and the cold air made Robin close her eyes. When she opened them again, there were ice crystals on her lashes, and nothing but a pile of snow in front of her.

Robin shivered and pulled her coat tighter to her. “Chilling,” she repeated, this time out loud to the empty hall.

Something was different about that section, Robin realized. The walls themselves were still the same, but the carvings were different. As though carved by a new person. Someone who wasn’t finished carving. It appeared Winter had led her to the last story that was written on the walls: the one of how she herself became a season.


	15. Chapter 15

**The Longest Night – Chapter 15**

“Zoro,” Sanji said. He was leaning against the invisible wall, fingers twitching as though lingering for a cigarette to hold onto.

“Eh?” Zoro replied. He ran a hand over his forehead. It was getting warmer in their prison. The air actually was getting thinner.

“I think the walls are closing in,” Sanji muttered.

“Tsh. You’re just craving a smoke.”

“Keh. I’m not. Well, I am, but that’s not it. Look,” Sanji pointed to the bottom stair, and then kicked the invisible wall. Sure enough, his foot bounced back before it had crossed halfway on the step.

“Hunh,” Zoro said. He pushed up to his feet to join Sanji, then reached out to test the wall with his hands. “That’s not good.” He frowned and looked over at Sanji, but the cook didn’t seem quite so concerned.

“You know, we never really thought about the roof of this cage,” he said, looking up at the open ceiling.

Zoro looked up and tipped his head in consideration. “No, we didn’t.” He had considered trying to go down through the floor to see if they could tunnel under the wall, but that seemed extreme considering they were told they just had to wait out the night. “You’re thinking you can ricochet off either side and make it to the top?”

“Mnnh,” Sanji confirmed. “Give me a boost,” he added and then began to walk to the other side of the platform.

“That’s going to be really hard without being able to see what you’re jumping to,” Zoro warned, but was already removing Sandai Kitetsu from his hip. “Especially in bare feet.” He kept the scabbard on, and held it by two hands, creating a surface for Sanji to jump onto. “Don’t break an ankle, Curly Cook.”

Sanji smirked. “Worried about me again, Zoro-kun?” He batted his eyelashes as though flirting. Sanji didn’t wait for a response before he started moving. Immediately he sprung across the short distance. Zoro was braced for the sudden presence, and simply lowered the sword a little to take some of the brunt off.

The cook balanced perfectly. Despite the speed, the other man seemed light against his arms, as though some of the air had caught his weight before he landed. Then Zoro shifted in the opposite direction. He pulled up with tremendous strength and propelled the cook a clean 10’ in the air.

Sanji did a backflip as easily as someone might walk across a room, and landed at just the right angle to gain purchase on the vertical surface. He lingered only long enough to build momentum, then pushed off in the direction of the other side. There, he repeated the process before throwing himself back in the other direction.

It was no easy feat what the cook was doing, and yet he made it look as effortless as floating in a stream. 

As Sanji got higher and higher, Zoro cringed. He’d hoped that the trek up would be short, and either the cook would hit a roof, or there wouldn’t be a wall. Instead, Sanji had made it easily 4 stories high.

That was when he hit the ceiling.

The noise that the cook made would have been funny, if not so startling. Sanji hit the roof about halfway through his arc and lost all momentum. He flailed with his arms and legs, looking for something to grab onto, but was already falling back down. It was only at that point that Zoro realized their plan had been half formed.

“Dammit,” Zoro cursed as he moved to intercept his falling nakama.

It would almost have been romantic, if it didn’t hurt so damn much. Zoro groaned from under the suddenly much heavier body of his friend, and they both hit the floor. Sanji was splayed back over him so that they made an X in the centre of the altar with their bodies.

“Whoo. I thought I was going to die there for a minute,” Sanji said.

“No more brilliant plans from you today,” Zoro declared, and shoved the cook a little.

“I did learn one thing while I was up there,” Sanji said.

“What’s that?”

“The sun’s coming up.”

Zoro inhaled deeply through his nose and then exhaled just as loud. “We’re just about done in here, then.”

“Any minute now,” Sanji agreed. He slid down some more until his head was just propped against Zoro’s ribs.

Zoro took the opportunity to thread his fingers into Sanji’s hair. One more moment of closeness before things got back to normal.


	16. Chapter 16

**The Longest Night – Chapter 16**

“Zorooo! Sanjiii! Robiiin!” Luffy skidded to a stop, sandals sliding along the red carpet. “Oh. Robin.” He straightened and began walking towards the archaeologist.

Robin was on her stomach on the floor with her knees bent so her feet were dangling upwards in the air. Two hands were supporting her chin, where she was reading a book, and a third was turning the pages. The walls to the small hall were lined with bookshelves, and Robin was clearly quite amused by her discovery.

“Captain,” she greeted Luffy.

Luffy idly plucked a thin book from the shelf. He flipped through a few brightly coloured pages and then settled it back. “What’s all this?”

“Gifts. Tribute to the Child of Autumn. It seems that the locals leave age appropriate presents here in the Autumn Temple to please the spirit of the season. These shelves house children’s books that were donated, as well as cards and drawings from the local children thanking Autumn for bringing winter to the island.”

“Nami will be disappointed there’s no gold.”

“Oh, there’s that, too.” Robin smiled mischievously. She gestured down to a piece of string that was lining the floor she was laying on. “The green thread leads to the room where they keep all the treasures. The blue thread leads to the main room of the temple. And the white thread leads from here back to the exit. Just in case we need to make a swift departure.”

Luffy grinned widely. “And the main temple room is where I can find Sanji and Zoro?”

“Mm,” Robin confirmed. 

“Thanks, Robin!” Luffy spotted the blue thread easily against the red carpet and began running again. “Zooro! Saanji!” he called as he went.

Luffy wasn’t overly impressed by the grandeur of the main temple room and all it’s marble pillars. It was just another room as far as he was concerned. Near the centre pillar, there was a young child that seemed aged beyond their years, and more powerful than was outwardly evident.

They sat with their back straight, and hands folded on crossed legs. Their eyes were locked up at the large pillar, and though they didn’t move when Luffy entered, they said, “Hi.”

“Hi,” said Luffy, and moved to sit next to the child. “What are you doing in here?”

The child inhaled and exhaled deeply. “Trying to make a decision.”

Luffy looked up at the pillar, too. “Sometimes that’s a hard thing to do on your own.”

The child furrowed their brow and nodded at these sage words. “I know what everyone wants me to do—and it’s the right thing for everyone, probably—but I’m scared.”

Luffy adjusted his hat on his head, and considered. “What makes you scared?”

“If I do this, I’ll be changed. Change can be very dangerous… But if I don’t do it, then someone else might have to take my place.”

Luffy pursed his lips out, thoughtfully.

“It’s not supposed to hurt. And Winter tells me the change brought her great joy, and new vision… But I’m afraid I won’t be me anymore.”

He nodded. “I can see how that can be scary. Change is hard to go through sometimes. But no matter what happens to you, no one can take away the person you are. They can hurt you, and they can love you, and they can help you or hold you back, but the person you are will always be you.”

The child smiled at Luffy. “I appreciate you saying that.” They pushed up off the floor and wiped their hands on their clothes. “You’re the leader, right?”

Luffy put his hands on his hips and nodded his head. “I’m the captain. Monkey D. Luffy.”

The child smiled wider. “You’re strong, aren’t you?”

Luffy nodded again. “I’m going to be the pirate king some day.”

“I can see why they follow you,” the child said. Then they hugged Luffy tightly. “Your friends are through that door,” Autumn pointed to an outline on the pillar that seemed decorative. “You can’t see it, but it’s there.” They started tentatively walking towards the carving, but paused with their hand on the stone and looked back at Luffy again. “Thank you. To you, and your crew. Can you pass that along?”

“Mm,” Luffy said and nodded his head. He didn’t know what he expected to happen, but when the child literally walked into the stone and disappeared, he whistled his surprise. “Awesome! How did you do that?” Luffy jumped up and ran over to press on the pillar where they’d gone through, but nothing happened.

The rest of his crew were chatting as they came into the main room. Robin was sharing some of the details that she learned, and Nami was doing the same. Luffy caught the salient points. Zoro and Sanji were in the pillar, and something bad might happen if they didn’t get them out by sunrise.

The sun was starting to rise when Luffy was coming in. 

Luffy didn’t know why they should bother waiting when there was an obvious solution. “Gomu-Gomu no…”

“Luffy, what are you…?”

“Pistol!”


	17. Chapter 17

**The Longest Night – Chapter 17**

As the first rays of sunlight began to crest the open roof of the large room, everything shook. Sanji rolled to his side, and curled around his stomach like he’d taken a hit. Zoro grabbed him and pulled him up while Sanji worked on getting the air back in his lungs. “Something’s happening,” Zoro declared.

“No… Kidding…” Sanji huffed. There was blood on Sanji’s lower lip, and if it wasn’t for the brazen smirk he shot at Zoro, Zoro would have been concerned. 

The cook shifted, turning to face the other direction. They stood like that in the centre of the altar, back to back and watching all around, and leaning on each other for stability. Zoro was grateful there was no ceiling to drop debris on them. 

The sound of stone grating over stone was almost deafening. Zoro looked back behind him to see that when the sun hit the invisible wall, it turned into carved out marble, and that that marble was crumbling and breaking down on itself. Then he saw Luffy on the other side, just pulling his fist back from the hole he’d made, a giant prideful grin on his face.

“Now’s your chance,” a small voice told them. 

Autumn was back again. They looked scared, and clung to Sanji’s leg as though it were more stable than anything else. 

Zoro immediately grabbed the cook’s arm and started walking towards the sudden escape route. He got the impression this was a limited time only shot at freedom.

As Zoro stepped down from the top of the altar and onto the stairs, he felt his ears pop and stopped in surprise. At the same time, the silver light that had been glowing dimly since they’d arrived grew brighter. It circled a ring around the top before shooting upwards in a towering beam that disappeared into the early morning light. 

Zoro decided it didn’t matter and kept walking, dragging the cook behind him like a child. He had no problems fully exiting the silver light, but as soon as the cook’s arm hit the edge, Sanji was knocked backwards causing Zoro’s grip to be lost.

Zoro stopped in his tracks and turned back to face Sanji. His expression was one of minor panic. He had one arm on his stomach, holding some unknown ache or injury, and his other hand flat on the wall of his new prison. 

So close. They were so close to being out. What a terrible tease.

The cook hauled back and kicked the glowing wall in frustration. Zoro nodded his agreement of the sentiment. When Sanji jumped back, bent over, and covered his ears from some sound Zoro couldn’t hear, Zoro rushed forward and pounded his fists on the barrier. Behind him, Zoro could hear his friends calling that they had to get out of there.

Sanji fell to one knee, and then slowly removed his hands from his ears. He looked up into the sky, like he could see something that none of the rest of them could. A possibility, considering the way the cook seemed to shift in colour, reflecting something that was beaming down on him. It moved over his skin like translucent mercury and made the cook seem like he was staring at a full moon from under water.

Autumn returned to Sanji’s side, drawing his attention as they took both of his hands in theirs. They said something to him that Zoro couldn’t hear, and the cook looked up to the sky again. This time Zoro did see what he was looking at, as Last Year’s Winter ghosted into view. 

She floated down to the surface of the altar like she was gliding on a breeze. When she was down to even footing, she reached out to him and ran her long fingers through the cook’s hair. Autumn hid behind Sanji’s hip where he was crouched.

Zoro slammed his hands on the barrier again. ‘Leave him alone,’ Zoro wanted to scream, but didn’t feel like there was much sense in it.

The sound must have carried, because Winter looked over at the swordsman. She smiled at Zoro, but then returned her attention to the pair inside the forcefield.

“Zoro, what’s going on?” Nami was at Zoro’s side. She almost fell on some debris, but righted herself by holding onto his arm.

“I don’t know. It looked like the wall was gone, but now there’s another one.”

The rest of the crew piled in with Zoro and Nami until they’d created a half ring around the centre.

“Sanjiii!” Luffy yelled, but the cook didn’t turn to look at him.

They all watched as Winter pulled Sanji to his feet, and gestured for him to step back. He did so, until his back was against the barrier directly in front of Zoro. Zoro fought the urge to reach out and try to grab him again.

Winter then turned her attention to Autumn. They had a brief, silent conversation. Autumn stomped their foot on the floor, and pointed at Sanji.

This caused Sanji to start slightly. He gestured to himself and shook his head, trading his gaze between the pair in front of him. Zoro didn’t like that. He wished he could know what they were saying.

Winter then gestured to all of the Straw Hats circling the room. Autumn dipped their head a little, appearing almost ashamed. They bashfully toed the floor. After a moment, Autumn reached their arms up to Winter. Winter smiled and crouched to wrap Autumn up in a hug. They remained like that, until a gentle breeze began to blow Winter’s flowy clothes around Autumn.

There was a bright light then—too bright for Zoro to keep looking at. When it died down, Sanji was at the centre of the altar with Winter. Except that it wasn’t the same Winter. The night sky skin, and the crystal eyes were the same, but this Winter had short, punkish hair that was a sort of pink instead of white. They were also shorter and more muscular than the tall, elegant original, and their clothing revealed more skin than the original.

Autumn was no where to be seen, but with how frequently the kid disappeared, that didn’t seem as weird as the three feet of fresh snow Sanji and this new Winter were standing in. “What’s going on?” Zoro rumbled in frustration.

Robin was on Zoro’s other side. She spoke up on what she’d learned. “Winter just… died, I suppose would be the right word. She passed her knowledge, power, and position to Autumn.”

Zoro pointed at the young adult on the altar with Sanji. “_That’s_ Autumn?”

Robin shrugged. “Well, I suppose ‘Autumn’ would be ‘Winter’ now.”

“W’ll, that’s good, right? Now Sanji-kun’s free to leave?” Nami asked.

“That depends…” Robin gestured back towards the pair in the middle. “Winter will offer him a place at their side. It’s up to Sanji if he accepts the offer or not.”

Zoro held his breath as Winter gestured up at the sky. They reached out and held Sanji’s hand in both of theirs while clearly asking a question.

The Straw Hats waited on bated breath.

The cook smiled fondly and reached out to put his free hand on Winter’s head. He shook his own head a little as spoke in return. Then he gestured to the crew, starting with Luffy, and sweeping his hand around the room. When he got to Zoro, he paused. Their eyes locked, and he faltered a little. 

Winter was saying something to him again, and Sanji frowned slightly before plastering a wide grin on his face. He shook his head again, and then turned to start walking towards the exit Luffy had presumably created.

“Thank goodness,” Robin breathed.

“I knew he’d choose us,” Nami added.

Similar phrases circled the room. Only Zoro remained tense.

That was when Winter lifted into the air, strengthening their grip on the cook’s hand and pulling him staggering back towards them. He gasped in surprise and turned to look at this powerful being that he was suddenly face to face with. 

They reached out quickly, and placed a hand on the side of Sanji’s head, under his fall of hair. Zoro couldn’t make out what happened next, but Sanji threw back his head. He opened his mouth wide, as though making to scream, but all the Straw Hats saw was a light that shot up from one of his eyes, straight into the sky above.

“Dammit,” Zoro cursed and slammed his hands against the barrier.

To his surprise, his fists slid straight through. He pushed a little more and was able to get up past his elbows. 

Robin’s hand was suddenly on his shoulder. She pressed against his back so that only he—and maybe Nami—could hear her. “The former Winter told me that she chose to stay because she didn’t realize what she was leaving behind. If there’s ever a chance for you to _clear the air_, this is it.”

She shoved him then, and Zoro tripped back into the prison once more.

Inside the barrier, it was like a snow globe. Sleet whipped past him, and the air was so cold it felt liquid. Zoro held his breath as he moved through the snow at his feet so he could reach the centre.

As he got closer, Zoro saw there was a wave of black spreading out from Winter’s hand and leaving a trail along Sanji’s skin. It swirled and snaked down under his shirt, looking like a dragon dancing as it moved. A streak of silver cut through his hair, disappearing out of Zoro’s sight.

Winter let go of Sanji to drift up a little higher on the wind, causing Sanji to stumble back a pace. The cook almost feel back to his knees, but caught himself and remained upright. He stared at his hands briefly, and then his gaze lifted back to the sky and he gasped. 

Winter took a moment to observe Sanji’s wonder, letting him settle with what he was seeing, then reached out their hand again. It seemed up to Sanji if he wanted to see more or not. 

Sanji’s mouth was still slightly agape. He stared at the sky as though he was seeing it for the first time. “Cooku!” Zoro yelled over the wind, but the cook didn’t reply. He had taken Winter’s hand, and was beginning to lift up out of the snow with them.

Sanji was only a few feet off the ground when Zoro reached him. Zoro threw his arms around his waist, pressing his face into the small of his back. “Sanji,” Zoro whispered. “Don’t leave me.”

It was so soft, Zoro thought, as he all but crushed Sanji’s waist in his grip. There was no way the cook could have ever heard him. And yet…

All at once, the storm around them stopped, as though frozen in time. The sleet hung in the air where it was. Sanji stopped rising from the ground. Winter didn’t move. It was all dead silent except for a soft, word from the cook. 

“Zoro?”

Then, as though being blown out from the centre, all of the Straw Hats were knocked away. Zoro’s back hit blue carpet, and he wrapped himself around the cook as they rolled. When everyone settled, they had all been swept back to the outer ring of the altar room of the Winter Temple.

“Is everyone okay?” Nami asked. “Zoro? Sanji-kun?”

Sanji didn’t reply. Zoro’s hand slid over Sanji’s chest. He could feel a slow, but steady beat there. And he could feel Sanji breathing against his chest. “Good. We’re good.” Zoro breathed.

“Interesting,” Winter said. They stepped back down onto the altar. The snow that had filled the invisible prison was blown back from their feet as they landed.

Zoro quickly sat up. He had Sanji cradled against one arm, and had his other hand on his swords, ready to fight.

“Perhaps not _entirely _oblivious.” They smiled then, and in a sudden gust of wind and spray of snow, they were gone.

Clouds began to roll across the sky and a heavy snow began to fall. The building stopped shaking. All Straw Hats were accounted for. Things finally felt over.

Zoro huffed a breath of relief and looked down at the cook, still pressed against him. There was a still silver streak in his hair, and his skin was still tattooed with a black mark that disappeared under his clothing, and seemed to shimmer with the light of hundreds of tiny stars.

He looked eerie and different. Haunting and beautiful. But that didn’t matter... He was still there.

“Cooku,” Zoro said, shaking him a bit as Chopper came over to tend to him. “I think he fainted,” Zoro told the doctor with only slight amusement in his tone.

Around the room, people were noticing that things looked different. They thought the carpet had been red. And there was no pillar in the centre of the room anymore. Nami commented on the open ceiling. Robin mentioned the carvings were different on the walls.

“We should leave before those storm clouds really open up,” Nami advised.

“A shame we have to leave all that treasure behind,” Robin mused.

“Uch. Don’t remind me.” Nami’s eyes caught Zoro’s, however, and then trailed down to Sanji’s prone form. She smiled. “We got everything that was important.”

Zoro was proud of her.

“I can take him,” Chopper offered to Zoro.

Zoro wanted to protest, but before he could think of a good reason, Chopper was already shifting the sleeping cook out of his arms. “These markings…” 

Zoro nodded. It didn’t appear that they were fading at all. “Cook’s going to need a new wanted poster,” Zoro replied and shrugged. “That’s all,” he insisted. Though inwardly, he wondered what other effects the night had had.


	18. Chapter 18

**The Longest Night – Chapter 18**

Robin stopped in the middle of the hall as they were on their way out. She cocked her head and looked around like she was forgetting something.

“What’s wrong?” Nami asked. Nami’s hand tightened on her Clima-Tact, dreading the thought that something else might jump out at them and prevent them from leaving. Everyone else in the hall stopped, too, and Nami saw that same hesitant readiness plastered on everyone else’s face.

“I think this building has the same layout as the Autumn Temple,” Robin supplied. They had discovered that her thoughtful strings were missing—left behind in the Autumn Temple with all that gold Robin had found.

“Okay. What does that mean?” Usopp asked.

“I wonder if they have a room for tributes in the same place as the other temple…”

Nami’s eyes flashed as she thought about turning this adventure into a profitable trip. “You’re so reliable!” she declared.

Robin smiled back and made a soft giggle sound. Then she lifted her hands up and closed her eyes. Her smile spread to something more wicked. She looked at Nami, and Nami knew the answer to her search.

Luffy made an excited laugh noise. “Chopper, you take Sanji to the sled. Everyone else, let’s quickly go grab what we can carry.”

Everyone cheered and started running up the hall. Zoro lingered back with Sanji and Chopper, but Nami figured that was okay. He was probably still too injured to ask to carry big armloads of gold. A shame… Zoro, Chopper, and Sanji were all good at carrying things.

The room itself was almost the size of the main temple room. There were no locks or security measures… There wasn’t even a door. Inside, they found a treasure fit for a God. Most of it was silver, or platinum, but there were a few pieces of gold.

Usopp had pulled out a bag and was filling it with what looked like gold coins. Brook put a crown on his head and some bangles on his arms, and was clowning around for Luffy’s amusement. “Everyone!” Nami snapped. “Make sure you focus on the gold.” Silver was nice, but not worth as much. And she didn’t expect the crew to be able to tell the difference between silver and platinum. 

As the navigator moved into the room, she discovered there was a statue off to one side of the floor. It looked a lot like the one in the museum. This one, however, was a lot sadder. Both figures were made of silver this time, and both were women. 

The focal figure was tall and slender. She reached up to something in the sky, and had the same expression wonder and awe that Sanji had had when he was staring into the sky.

The second figure was on her knees, behind the first and out of sight. She had her face in her hands, and shoulders hunched, as though crying.

Robin came to Nami’s side. “It’s like the sculpture you were looking at in the museum,” she commented. There was a name scrawled on the base that said ‘Greta’. “I believe it’s by the same artist.”

Nami nodded. “Mm,” she agreed.

Robin cocked her head after a moment. “I think this may be a depiction of the last time Winter was chosen… She told me that she wasn’t aware of what she was leaving behind.”

“She said that to you?”

A new voice from the shadows startled the room. They once more got at the ready for an attack, but when an old lady shuffled into the light, they all relaxed.

“She did,” Robin confirmed.

This made the old lady smile, and her eyes well up with unshed tears. Then she shuffled over to the statues, reached up, and put a hand on the standing figure’s cheek. “Beautiful, isn’t she.”

“Are you…” Nami trailed off for a moment, but then said, “Are you the artist or the subject?”

The old lady smiled at her. “Both, my dear.” She looked over at Robin after a beat. “Did my Winter seem happy with her choice?”

Robin tipped her head. “I think she was happy and sad.”

Greta made a soft humming noise, then patted the sculpture twice on the cheek. “Yes. That seems right.” She looked back towards the room at large, and laughed when her eyes fell Brook. “You certainly are a lively crew.”

Nami suddenly felt a little guilty for robbing this place. “Ano… About the gold…”

The old lady waved Nami off. “Winter can see the universe in the sky, and these fools bring her trinkets.” Greta hopped down off the sculpture’s base and then motioned for the girls to follow her. She led them both to a small cabinet that had what must have been 50 gold rings with diamonds, emeralds, pearls, and other precious materials. “You should take these, too. They are probably worth more than anything else in here.”

Nami squealed softly and threw her arms around the old lady. “Thank you!”

“Do you need a ride back to town?” Robin asked.

“No. No, I think I’ll stay here with my memories a little longer. But thank you, dear.”

Robin and Nami smiled at her, and Nami gave the lady another hug before scooping up the rings with a devilishly pleased laugh.


	19. Chapter 19

**The Longest Night – Chapter 19**

Sanji jerked awake on the bed across the room from Zoro. Chopper had finally left the cook alone to rest after poking and prodding and bandaging him to the point of excess. He left Zoro both to act as guard, and to have him close to his medical supplies in case something caused his miraculous healing to fail.

Chopper didn’t like the concept of a magical healing one bit. He didn’t say anything, but Zoro could tell he hated not having the science to explain it in the way he kept running tests and furrowing his tiny brow.

Sanji went suddenly still, apparently trying to assess his situation without the use of sight. Chopper had bandaged Sanji’s eye where it was marked by his new look, and the way he moved had his hair covering the other.

“…Chopper?” Sanji asked after a beat.

“Zoro,” Zoro replied, hopping off the bed and crossing the room. “But you’re in the infirmary, so close guess.”

Sanji visibly relaxed. He slid to sit up on the bed with his feet hanging down, and reached up to brush the hair out of his face. “Did I hit my head or something?”

Zoro shook his head. “No, Chopper decided to bandage you up everywhere he thought you might be injured. But if you don’t feel hurt, then you’re fine.”

Sanji nodded back. He was already yanking at the bandages on his head, but his effort tightened the ones around his neck, and caused him to choke a little. 

“Hang on a sec,” Zoro said softly, and with far more compassion in his tone than he intended.

Sanji’s fingers stilled, and Zoro began to carefully untangle the bandages so he could get them off the cook’s face. As he did, he revealed the night sky marking that slid down Sanji’s cheek. It seemed to spill down from his hair like a waterfall, pool in his eye, and then cascade down over his cheekbone and the side of his cheek.

Without asking permission, Zoro reached out and ran his thumb gently over it, tracing the edge. It was just as smooth as Sanji’s skin normally was, but was a little cooler. One could probably find the markings on him by touch alone. And a big part of Zoro wanted to try.

Sanji parted his lips when Zoro stepped closer, leaning against the bed between his legs. Zoro let his hand slide down to Sanji’s throat, past the bandages that were hanging loose there, to rest on his chest. 

Sanji’s breathing slowed down and got deeper. Zoro had half expected protest, and was delighted when he didn’t get any. With sword-calloused fingers, he went to work undoing the bandages covering the cook’s chest. Sanji watched him, but said nothing.

When Zoro had the bandages removed from Sanji’s upper torso, he paused to examine the markings again. Directly over his heart there was what appeared to be the head of a dragon, laying over a large snowflake. The body of the dragon snaked around and curled to disappear over one of his shoulders. 

Zoro let his fingers trace over this design, too. As the markings disappeared from Zoro’s view, he leaned closer and began to trace them by feel alone. Over his shoulder blade. Up his spine. Up under the back of his hair. 

Sanji shivered and tipped his head back when Zoro scratched his nails against his scalp. The action presented his throat to Zoro, and the swordsman couldn’t resist the opportunity. Quickly, but gently, he dipped down and ran his lips over Sanji’s Adam’s apple.

Sanji gasped in surprise, but still didn’t protest. That made Zoro smile mischievously. He tightened his hand in Sanji’s hair to hold his head there, and began to brush his lips down farther on Sanji’s throat, his collar, and then his chest. 

Sanji shivered and tightened his hands in the blankets when Zoro flicked his tongue out to run over his skin. He found the markings again with his mouth, and followed them until they reached Sanji’s nipple. Without hesitation he placed his lips over the cool nub, flicked it once with his tongue, and then began to nibble gently with his lips.

At this point, it was clear Sanji didn’t know what to think. He shifted one hand from the bedsheets to Zoro’s hair, not gripping or pressing, but simply stroking. “Zoro…?” he breathed, and Zoro thought it was a question.

Zoro let go of Sanji’s nipple with a gentle kiss that drew a soft whimper from Sanji’s throat. He was shivering, but Zoro couldn’t imagine it was a temperature thing. “You okay?” Zoro asked. He slid his hand down from Sanji’s hair and let both of them rest on his hips.

Sanji’s eyes fluttered open to find Zoro’s. “I’m okay,” he confirmed, and offered a bashful smile.

Zoro was entranced by the grin and smiled back. Then he leaned in and stole a quick kiss from the cook. It was mostly chaste and didn’t last more than a moment, but it must have served as an invitation to Sanji, because the cook’s lips were back on his in an instant. 

Delicacy and glancing touches were out the window then. Frantic hands were pulling at the fabric of bandage and clothing alike. They were down to just their slinky new pants each when Zoro reached under the cook and dragged him closer. Pressed together like that, there was no mistaking how aroused they each were.

Zoro grinned and picked Sanji up off the bed. The cook grunted minor protest, but he also wrapped his long legs around Zoro’s hips, and that was exactly why Zoro had done it. Well, that and more certain privacy.

He was a little rougher than he needed to be when he slammed Sanji against the wall next to the door, pressing and holding him there. Sanji groaned and tipped his head back again. Zoro liked that look an awful lot. “Hold that thought,” he breathed as he fumbled to lock the door, pull the shade over the little window, and turn out the lights.

Sanji didn’t help one bit. Instead the bastard began to nibble on Zoro’s piercings, tugging on them gently, and then letting them fall back to hit against each other and the side of Zoro’s neck. Zoro tipped his head to the side to give the cook better access, which Sanji accepted, and started nibbling down the side of Zoro’s throat.

“Dammit,” Zoro said, as he distractedly almost dropped the cook where they leaned.

Sanji’s chest shuddered with a silent laugh. Before that night, it would have been enough to start a fight. Instead, Zoro just said, “Shove it,” and moved back across the room.

Despite the two perfectly good beds, Zoro chose to sit down on the rolling office chair that served as one of the spare seats in the room. Sanji adjusted his legs easily, and didn’t question the move. Instead, he used his new leverage to re-start that kiss they’d broken.

It was Zoro’s turn not to complain. As the cook leaned down on him, Zoro reached out and put his hands on his hips. He guided him closer until the two were rubbing together again. “Mnn,” he half groaned, half growled into the cook’s mouth. “Sanji,” he whispered when he pulled back to breathe.

Something unexpected happened then. Sanji leaned back and gasped at the sound of his name, as though he was hearing it for the first time. Which might have been true—at least as far as Zoro saying it. What was almost as amazing as the sight of Sanji gasping like that was the light that began coming off him.

Just like the aurora they’d seen in the sky the night before, a dazzling show of cascading light rolled down the cook, from hairline to treasure trail. It lit up everywhere the cook was marked. In the darkness of the room, it made the cook look like a window to a crisp winter night.

“Wow,” Zoro breathed.

“Really?” Sanji return whisper seemed uncertain.

“Yeah,” Zoro affirmed, nodding. “You were okay before, but now you’re stunning.”

“Tsh,” Sanji replied, but did actually look flustered by the compliment. The aurora twinkled along with the flush that spread across Sanji’s face. 

Zoro realized the aurora was acting like a blush. He also realized he could make Sanji blush just by saying his name. Zoro’s grin was almost demonic before he leaned in close and breathed in Sanji’s ear, “Sanji…” As anticipated, the cook’s aurora started dancing along with the flush that spread down his neck and across his shoulders. 

Zoro hummed his pleasure. He reached his hand between them to give the cook a good, solid stroke through his soft pants. 

The action made Sanji gasp in delighted surprise, before breathing out in a low, rumbling moan, “NnnhZo-ro…”

Zoro bit down on Sanji’s throat, and sucked hard enough to leave a mark of his own. The cook shuddered in his grip, and moaned deeper. “Let’s get you back to bed,” Zoro decided. He lifted Sanji easily with just one hand, and continued stroking them both, pressing together. 

Sanji nodded back, enthusiastically. He threaded his fingers behind Zoro’s head, and captured him in a kiss again. When Zoro threw him down on the bed, it was not gentle. Sanji winced a little but blushed brighter, telling Zoro he probably enjoyed a bit of the rougher treatment.

The notion of that made Zoro’s cock throb. It also made the outcome of their next fight a lot more interesting. 

“Coo-ku,” Zoro rumbled. “Lay back. I’m gonna make you glow.”

Without waiting to see if Sanji would listen, Zoro shifted so he could simultaneously spread kisses down Sanji’s chest and pull Sanji’s pants down. His cock bobbled free, and Zoro inhaled the scent of him before opening his mouth and taking a little lick. 

In the light shining from Sanji’s chest, he could see the tip of the cook’s cock glisten with moisture. Zoro grinned and licked up his length so he could get a taste of that moisture. It was salty and tangy. Not delicious by any stroke, but not offensive. He gave a little suck of Sanji’s tip, trying to coax more precum from him.

“Dammit, Marimo, don’t tease.” He started scratching his fingers through Zoro’s hair, as though he wanted to push him down, but held the urge off.

Zoro hummed a moan and a laugh against Sanji. He pulled himself back, which elicited a small whimper from the cook. Zoro loved the sound of it, and lingered away from the cook for a long pause. With the way Sanji’s toes curled, and his hips shifted, Zoro was inspired to press his luck. “Beg for it, Sanji,” he said.

Sanji was a little stunned, but he was blushing again. “Bastard,” he accused as his cock strained instinctively for Zoro’s mouth.

Zoro rewarded the straining cock with a gentle kiss. “Mm. That’s not right.” He licked a little more and then said, “Try again.”

“Zoro, please…”

“Mm. Close enough. We’ll work on it.”

Sanji opened his mouth to reply—possibly to tell him to get stuffed—but all that came out when Zoro slid his erection between his lips was a slur of curses he doubted Sanji would feel comfortable uttering in front of a lady. It made Zoro hum with appreciation and slide Sanji deeper into his mouth.

“Fuck, yeah.”

When Zoro felt a shift in the cook’s thrusts, he kicked off his own pants and hopped up on the bed between his legs. He let Sanji slide from his lips with only a minor murmur of protest. Sanji seemed too curious with what Zoro would do next to question him.

Zoro kissed his way up Sanji’s chest until he found his mouth. With the cook’s personal taste on his lips, Zoro captured Sanji in a kiss that he could feel down to his toes. It took a lot of practice to be able to sword fight with his mouth, and that made Zoro a very confident kisser.

When he pulled back, Sanji was breathless and bucking up against him. Zoro supported himself on his forearms and leaned down to whisper in Sanji’s ear. “I want you to picture me inside of you.”

Sanji shifted and paused slightly, but then nodded. “Okay,” he replied.

Zoro grinned like a tiger about to pounce. Sanji was very compliant in the bedroom. Zoro hadn’t been expecting that, but was certainly enjoying it. “Just a little bit at first… Just enough to let you really know I’m there.”

Sanji bit his lower lip, and nodded.

“Now, reach down and take me in your hand… Let me know you understand what I’m describing.”

Sanji did exactly as Zoro described, first licking his hand, and then creating a tight opening for Zoro to press himself into. Zoro breathed out and rested his forehead against the pillow beside Sanji’s head. “Nice,” he complimented. “Now, picture me slowly moving deeper inside of you… Deeper,” he pressed more into Sanji’s hand, “And deeper,” he continued the motion, “Until you’ve taken me right to the base.”

Zoro lifted his head to speak against Sanji’s lips. “Picture me throbbing inside of you. Not moving… Just owning you by holding you skewered in place.”

Sanji licked his lips and darted his tongue along Zoro’s, too. “I’d want you to move…”

“Not yet,” Zoro replied. “Not until you beg. Beg proper.”

Sanji licked his lips again and swallowed. His glow shimmered and brightened again. “Please, Zoro… Please fuck me.”

“_Sama_,” Zoro corrected. Sanji was always one for honourifics. If it was Robin-chan, and Nami-san, then Zoro would have to be held in an even higher regard.

Sanji gasped, then he nodded, completely accepting the correction. “Zoro-sama… Please will you fuck me? I want you so bad.”

Zoro nearly came from surprise when Sanji listened to his prompting so completely. Zoro leaned down and whispered in Sanji’s ear. “Not tonight… We’re not ready for that…” He licked the shell, and then nibbled on his earlobe. “But what you can do is move your hand on me as though I was inside of you. Show me how you’d fuck yourself on me using those skilled hands of yours. Show me how much you want that.”

Sanji’s hands were more skilled than Zoro was expecting. His long fingers moved with practice as they gripped and played with his erection, milking Zoro like a starving man.

“Fuck, cook… You’re actually really good at that…” Zoro was losing control of the situation pretty quickly. “If you keep that up, I’m gonna cum all over you…” It was part warning, part offer. 

Sanji, however, had other ideas. He tugged on Zoro until the swordsman was crawling up his body, urging him to his lips. “Fuck yes, _Sanji-kun_,” Zoro murmured. 

The cook verbally moaned.

Zoro shifted on his knees so that he was facing down his body again, with Sanji’s head free to bob between his legs, and his own head well within reach of Sanji’s erection. Sanji didn’t waste time, gripping Zoro’s ass cheeks in his hands and insisting on Zoro pressing fully down his throat.

“Holy fuck, cook.” He was way too good at that to be new at this. Once Zoro regained his wits, he started to work on Sanji again. It didn’t take much more effort before the cook was cumming against Zoro’s cheek and lips.

There weren’t many more thrusts needed after that before Zoro was shooting a load down the cook’s throat. To Zoro’s intimate delight, the cook swallowed him down _hungrily_. 

When Zoro started to pull away, Sanji sucked and licked at him until he was all clean.

Zoro shifted, climbing off the cook to find some wipes to clean them off. When he came back to the bed, Sanji was leaning up on one arm.

“Well. I’m awake now. Want a sandwich?”

Zoro inhaled blissfully. “Why didn’t I do this ages ago?” he wondered out loud.

“I wouldn’t have let you ages ago,” Sanji advised. “Hand me my pants.”

Zoro did and then slid into his own. “Maybe. But we’re definitely doing it again.”

Sanji shrugged and tried to play it cool. “We’ll see,” he said, but he was absolutely glowing.


	20. Chapter 20

**Epilogue**

Night had come again in the Winter Temple. The first night of a new season.

The temple was silent when Greta pulled a gold ring with diamonds and sapphires out of her pocket. She held it with a sigh. It was a beautiful piece of art. Probably the best one she’d made. She was genuinely proud of it. Not that the person she made it for would ever see it…

“The boys made the right choice,” she said and wiped a tear from the corner of her eye.

The room seemed colder then. Normally the cold didn’t bother her so much, but this chill made her pull her sweater closer. Perhaps it was time to leave. There was nothing for her in that old Winter Temple anymore.

She stepped forward, and climbed the stairs to the main altar. The warmth that came from the centre always felt nice, and it brought a sad smile to her face. Greta bent to place the ring on the centre of the altar. “I will remember for the both of us,” she said.

A hand was suddenly on her shoulder. It felt cold--but comfortably so--as it slid down her arm, to her hand, and slipped a delicate finger into the ring.

“I never forgot,” a woman’s voice whispered in her ear.

Greta turned around to see another woman around her own age. She was a stranger everywhere except the eyes. And when she smiled, Greta knew for sure who she was looking at.

“Not for one moment of one day,” the other woman went on. She was taller than Greta, but she always had been. Her hair was white, instead of the jet black that Greta remembered. But those eyes… They sparkled with all the kindness in the world.

The woman pressed her forehead to Greta’s, and held her hands. “You make me feel… warm,” she told her. 

“I missed you,” Greta whispered.

“Stay with me here, until morning.”

“I’ll stay with you forever. I’m not leaving you again.”

Last year’s Winter smiled fondly at her love. They laid down together in the centre of the altar, while the new Winter tucked them in under a blanket of fresh snow. 

By morning, the room was empty.


End file.
